BEAUTY WITHIN THE BEAST

BEAUTY WITHIN THE BEAST

It was inhabited.

It had been for years.

There were many rooms, some full of light.

Their atmosphere abundant with the sweet aroma of

Roses, Orange Blossom, Lemongrass & Myrrh.

A potpourri of essences bringing to mind a sense of freedom, as if one could fly the skies or dance barefoot through grassy meadows picking wild forest berries or stand upon a mountain peak & feel the valley’s breezes comb through every hair.

This joy, this laughter that echoes to the soul, penetrates the walls calling us to beg for more.

AAHHHH …… but to what are we called?

For I have roamed the darkened hallways,

Walked the corridors at night, searched in vain secret

Places where darkness refracts the light.

Moonbeams through the stairwell window penetrate the night,

Revealing secrets well enshrouded to cast them from all sight.

A secret passage ne’er seen before, a door within a wall creaking,

groaning, slowly opened, released by who?

Burst of air, burnt rank with mildew.

Silken thread once woven the entrance formed.

Now broken, softly danced, patiently enduring watching for the unsuspecting to entwine itself upon the gossamer web.

Dampness crept forward chilling the rank air.

Darkness advanced with her bony fingers and fear bound her lasso.

In the distance barred & nailed was a door.

A boundary not to be crossed.

No light shone here, no warmth radiated through the walls of thick oppressing coldness; this was the west wing.

Here no one came but no one ever left.

Here heaviness dwelt. Here darkness was birthed growing from its embryotic state.

Here joy & slavery were yoked with burden.

Pain & happiness handcuffed, chaining themselves with bondage.

Here there were no blue skies & grassy meadows,

No perfumed essences, no fields to touch with barefoot freedom.

This was but a remnant of what once was.

This was a residue, a left over that fermented that grew with vengeance.

Vermin disappeared into the cracks to feed maturing on this rotting flesh.

Facing the room at the end of the west wing shivering in fear,

knowing eyes were upon me, panic embraced the moment.

The filthiness of their existence manifested before me.

Glancing across the room, broken pieces of workings

Lay strewn across the floor.

Smashed mirrors hung from the walls, glass lay where it had fallen,

Boxes stacked high, windows encrusted with thorny bush.

In a far corner an exquisite flower, drooped dying,

The spirit of life drained almost to its last cell.

Its petals having fallen, lay shrivelled, the last & final petal positioned to fall ready to lay with those already at their end.

Like the sound of rustling reeds, the breath of the four

Winds blew into the west wing room.

The curtains torn in two, fell.

The thorny bush melted & light catapulted into the darkness

That had drained the life & malnourished the flower.

Fresh air flooded in like a tidal wave, the dust was washed away, the vermin drowned, boxes were destroyed, broken mirrors made whole.

And the silken captive threads of web were washed away.

Death stormed into collect his wages, to threaten those who came with life.

Greedily rejoicing at his victory as the final petal fell, destined to lay upon the brown petals of that which once held life & beauty beyond compare.

Eagerness deceived him for the petal had not yet touched its final resting place.

The cheater had been cheated, for the four winds had blown their breathe. The empowering bondage cursed that it was … was broken. Its authority taken away.

The room in the west wing glowed in its ever present splendour.

Its walls encrusted with gold glistened in the sunlight, the aromas of rose Frankincense & Myrrh stirred the air.

Soft billowing curtains danced with elegance in the breeze & warmth radiated through the corridors.

The icy heaviness of black ugliness sent screaming to the abyss its echoes drowned with the angelic chorus singing.

Once in a far corner there had been an exquisite flower,

Darkness draining its life, now in the warmth of light,

Another flower of exquisite rarity budded,

Its petals unfurling to reveal it true essence of soul.