Her Face - My Face

The Night has soon become my solace and my prison
Where for hours I wander, as if in a vision
I drag to a stop at the daunting Hasselback Lake
And I watch in a daze, its so macabre state
The tranquil surface, unbroken, it seems to change shape

It is glaring! It is laughing! It's sneering at me!
Yet something, it beckons, from within it's confines
That thing, it wants me, I know it, and though I'm afraid
This thing, foul demon! It will not let me go
Not tonight, not ever; I've met a worthy foe

I struggle, I'm bounded; It won't relinquish its hold
I wheeze and I choke; it is constricting my throat
My efforts are futile and I am losing control
So moaning, and groaning, I shall croak my goodbyes
To dad and mom, and her, the reason I am alive

Greedily, it engorges me; It devours me whole
And I laugh, a bitter laugh, as it tears apart my soul
Forbodden tears! They betray me; they show my true pain
As mockingly, they roll, burning holes into my soul;
They unveil me, and my clandestine shame

My salty tears, they have become as black as my heart
But leave rivers of sanguine as they take their depart
Wretched things! They abandon me, alone, and afraid
But in the depths of my bosom, I know it is true
That it is to I, not them, that the anger is due

So I relax, bear the pain, as it breaks me some more
I refuse to cry out; This torment I must endure
I yearn to bathe in the crimson that will soon appear
As it allows me to fall, to crawl to the lake
But I see no reflection, for the dark ink pervades

I reach out to touch it - to see if it's real
But my fingers look ghastly against the dark curtain
And as I feel the cold encroaching upon my skin,
I draw back, for it, too has revealed my sin
The water now transparent, I see my pallid face

I recognize the darkness that was hidden within
So rejoice at recoiling, but it was short-lived
For that face, so haunting, is embedded in my fears
And I struggle, against the odds, to fight back the tears
I fear that Her face – My face – them both, will be my death.