A SILENT PLACE

Written for Outlaw Poet's Weekly Contest

A SILENT PLACE

In the grotto entrance
Grow vines so thick and green,
Almost covering the pathway;
Wet with rain, slick and clean.

A silent place, a forgotten place,
Where no man treads alone,
For death lingers in the passage;
A corpse reduced to bone.

Uninviting is the darkness;
Should you choose to venture in,
You will find that in the grotto
Is the semblance of sin.

Years have passed since the lovers
There in the grotto met;
Jealousy flared in someone's heart,
And a man owes the Devil's debt.

The corpse so young, a beauty,
Desired by two young men;
One walks mindlessly near the grotto,
The other was never seen again.

A silent place, a forgotten place,
Where no man treads alone,
His love lies in the pasage;
Hear his dreadful moan.

The murderer fled that night
When his bullet missed its mark;
Killing the girl and not the man
He had hunted in the dark.

In a silent place, a forgotten place,
Another shot rings true;
A suicide to meet his bride;
The Devil gets his due.