Obsession Poem by Clyde King

Once upon a weekend dreary,
While I stumbled drunk and bleary,
Over many a bottle and beer can
Strewn across my motel floor.

Suddenly there came a knocking
And the sound of a gun cocking,
Cocking, cocking, cocking, cocking
Just outside my motel door-
Only this and nothing more.

"It's the cops, " I mumbled,
About to break in the door.
There was no running, hiding or evading
The ghastly sight upon my floor.

There she was, hacked to pieces
And scattered like the bottles and cans
Upon my floor-
Only this, and nothing more!

Ah, distinctly I remember
It was a cold December
As the daylight embers
Shone upon the severed members
Of the sweet Lenore!

Oh my God! The blood and gore!

And the silken, sad, uncertain
Rustling of each blood stained curtain,
Thrilled me, chilled me, as I relived
The horrible deed the day before.
Only this, and nothing more!

But the cops, intently beating,
Beating, beating, beating, beating
Commanding me to open the door!
"Sirs, " said I, earnestly entreating,
"Do come in and we'll have a meeting
And discuss the events
Of the day before."

"Gentlemen, I beg you when you see
What's before you, this was only
A prostitute, a no good whore,
She got what she deserved forever more.
Nothing less and nothing more! "

They recoiled in horror and backed to the door!
"I warned you, didn't I? It's a dreadful sight
That started last night, and ended with the death
Of this whore named Lenore!

The sight overwhelmed them,
The blood and the gore.
The wine bottles and beer cans mute witness bore.

They stood, then undaunted
By the scene that was haunted
By an evil they had never seen before.
On the floor they threw me, handcuffed and beat me,
Beat me, cursed me over the life of a whore?

Then I awoke with a shaking, feverish and quaking,
Mind racing and reeling, as I looked at the ceiling,
And felt a relief like never before!
Next to me sleeping lay the sweet Lenore!

Beside me lying, murmuring and sighing,
"Are you living or dying? What's wrong with you? "
She did implore.

"Just a nightmare, I'm fine.
Go back to sleep, my sweet Lenore."

June 2017