Land of Lust

by CJ P.

With hinges rusted it swings open
The gate screeched and howled from decades of neglect 
Revealing within it the fields and forests
The forests reeked with the decaying of wood, of life
The fields adorn with a strange charm
Beckoning you to them.
With a crooked finger of uneasy certainty. 

Amidst the bones, 
your eye catches what you came for
The tall dead grass, brittle to the touch, 
Moves to to the side to let you pass
At last you have reached the mound of cracked earth
That housed your treasure.

Carefully ever so carefully your hand descended
At last you lose what little patience you had left, 
eager to stake your claim
Wearing the wicked grin like a mask that is now part of you
The same grin that the gates opened for
With hands clenched tightly in a fist
Around the golden stem pulsating with life, you pulled.
You pulled on that lonely idol but it would not budge 
No amount of cursing or brute force 
Could remove this lone beauty 
From the desolate field of decay.
The petals could not be  disheveled,
roots uprooted, stem disturbed, life destroyed

But you would not give up
Your subconscious code overwritten by savagery.
An innocent child turned monster.
By the time you realised your mistake it was too late
The same noise that greeted your arrival 
has also sealed your fate
It was the squealing of a pig at slaughter 
It was the gate

The gate from which you came, 
heading back to the life you left behind
The gate closes, never to be reopened
You now know what is to come of your mislead life
You raise your hand to the grey sky 
One last time in a silent salute
With the dry dead air 
stealing the life from inside you, you collapsed
You have at last arrived in your rightful place
Among the bones