Another Month

You cannot enter here

Not by physical choice

You cannot enter here

But you will be brought in anyway

You shall be dragged along,

Forced

Whether you wish it or not

Plucked as a harvest

And carried in before the frost

To be pickled or dried

Or cast aside

So quiet down and save your voice

Pleading is useless

And praying is too

Neither will kicking or thrashing

Be any help to you

There’s a monster nibbling at your toes, and her grin crawls for miles

She has you in her grip

Barbed fingers pierce your flesh

Her talons scrape your bones

Like claws down a chalkboard

You can tell by the wicked smacking of her lips,

You are in for a rancid, festering trip

It does not matter what freedom you would prefer

For your death and all your life are all ordained by her

Time marches wherever she wills

Across your skin and right up your spine

Here she is now with her chin held high

And her hungry eyes pried, glaring wide

Can you feel her hooks sinking into your thigh?

She hauls you here and there

Her thumb looped behind your tendons

And you a ragdoll at her heels

But still alive

Alive enough whimper

Alive enough to hurt

Alive enough to rake those fingers raw, as you drag them through the dirt

But where will you find purchase

On a world that’s passing by?

Feel free to peel your nails against the stones

For all the good that will do

You’re sliding and there is no way to slow

Because time

Time waits for no one

She simply arranges our bodies

As trophies and keepsakes upon her shelves

You could not enter here

Not by physical choice

But

Here

You

Are

In the pit regardless

And you cannot pull back

A second slipped into 60, and the minutes too are gone

60 of those and another hour has died, so long!

12, 8, and 24

The days bleed away, the weeks grow weak

And another month is at your door

9 went straight to hell and now we’re here at number 10

September lies in ruins and October’s here again

Check your beard, pluck your first gray

And insist you’ve got life yet

Then swallow down another day

Take as many as you can get

Because time has you and she will not ever let you free

And it doesn’t matter where you try to flee

There is only one way that this waltz can end

Try and wiggle

Try and buck free

Do a little jig

But there’s a name for this dance my friend

You cannot dodge the hooks

They have already sunk in

And all that mad twitching can’t do a thing

Except one grand, finale:

A shambling totentanz

***

Authors note:

The “dance of the dead” has been a literary, musical, and visual trope for hundreds of years. So I’m not breaking any new ground, but I really wanted to take a(nother ) crack at it.

In honor of my favorite month having a special name despite being just another stretch of time, yawning into nothing :)

Also in honor of one of The Shining.

You might think that’s random, but the theme for The Shining shares the same musical inspiration as Totentanz (dance of the dead) by Franz Liszt. So whatever, it’s all connected. let me roll with it.

Liszt:

The Shining (Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind)

The Gregorian chant behind both songs:

And to prove this overplayed shit is a tired trope: I’ve written on it before 😂