Ideal Qualities to Consider When Deciding Where to Keep The Devil: Amount: Way Direction: Down Enclosure: In Location: The Hole

The obols fall off my eyes All I see is thin light Lining the border Of the lid of the coffin that my body’s in I try moaning A croak is all my throat can hack up I feel for my forehead A flight of flesh is flung from the touch

Scratch my nails off on the poplar Where the rusted nails are loose With what strength I have, I slide it off And stand up in the family tomb

Fighting the dying of the light Blinded by the tunnel light Climbing from the other side Fighting the dying of the light Who knew you could fight Against the dying of the light Violently enough that it reignites

Then I remember My last words were, “Hello, son.” Then I remember My last thought was, “Is that a gun?”

In the candelabra Sits a shriveled flame The heat of the everlasting hellfire to this candle Is like a desert to a grain Gas-lamps stretch shadows A hansom thrums the stones Past the grand piano Past the chandelier Footfalls from the verandah Are a savage slamming hammer in the utter silence

A figure creeps into an antique mirror Revulsion rises in my breast The thing did not belong to this world But wasn’t welcome in the next

Fighting the dying of the light Blinded by the tunnel light Climbing from the other side Fighting the dying of the light Who knew you could fight Against the dying of the light Violently enough that it reignites

I hear a creak and an epithet in the hall I remember the secret peephole behind The empty eyes of my portrait that hung aloft Float up to the eyeholes A string of bile drips from my maw

When I finish the deed I scream these first words of life anew The risen bodies across the town They scream theirs too

We scream together: My first words were, “I have no son.” My first words were, “Where am I?” My first words were, “Is this hell?” My first words were, “My turn to come in.” My first words were, “Elizabeth, please.” My first words were, “Ahhhh.” My first words were, “Father, we meet again.”