Chapter: 8 (Vera’s Gambit )

Vera, her name; beauty dark and wild,

Yet seeks no man her heart to beguile.

I asked one who had watched her from afar

Why still alone this rose still so rare?

He laughed a grim and haunting laugh,

"The boys know well her mother's toxic chaff.

Taught Vera at too young an age

To lust for spirits' madd'ning rage.

When papa met his dark demise,

Her mother sank in drunken guise."

A love for Vera promises only pain,

As her mother's wrath, your life will stain.

Where she treads, poison ivy climbs,

Her embraces bring not joy but crimes.

No blissful union can there be,

Only torment, the bride of insanity.

Turn now while still your limbs are whole,

Leave that dark flower to madness' stroll.

But who can resist a siren's glow?

My heart to her lethal beauty bowed.

In the pale moon's melancholy light,

Our passions burned through that dread night.

Now I'm chained in this confined cell,

My limbs torn where madness' thorns fell.

Oh cruel deceit of raven's bride!

From her embrace, none may abide.

- Emmanuel Rayan Daka (The Red Inkheart)

- To all my aborted dreams

- Artwork: Vera by Red I