The Morrow

By: Jordan Molin

“Nevermore,” Uttered the Raven,  

Repeating it forever more.  

His beady eyes flashed as if he mocked me.  

“Give me a response, fiend, born from ebony plumes!” I demanded,  

“Will I be blessed by the smile of Lenore once again?”  

Squawking, talking, inaudible words, the Raven muttered.   

“Speak! I command thee!” I reached for my volume of forgotten lore,  

Hurling it at the messenger from the Plutonian Shore.  

The beast was unfazed and sidestepped,  

Beating its obsidian wings, seating itself down.  

It is sitting, still sitting, on my windowsill!  

Cocking its head left and right,  

The Prophet calculated, its demon eyes frustrated.  

The Raven clicked its beak, click, clicking.  

Think, thinking, it was.  

“Thee shall never see her smile,” It cawed,  

Its voice cracked, yet exact, “Thee shall never see her smile again!”  

“Fiend! Thee tell me lies!” I accused.  

“I speak of no lies. Thee will never see her smile.”  

“Then when will I ever lay my eyes on Lenore?”  

“Thee will never. Thee will never again,” The Raven cackled,  

Cruelly clicking his cracked bill.  

“Oh, Prophet!” I pleaded, “Shall I ever be joyous?”  

“Thee has no joy. Thee has no hope. Damned are thee!  

Damned are thee!”  

“Fiend! Leave my chamber! Leave out my chamber door!”  

I threw my hands in the air, glaring the bird down  

“Nevermore! A reminder, I am, of Lenore,  

How thee shall see her beauty nevermore!”  

“I beg of thee! Please! I shall soon perish,  

From the aching of my lonesome heart.”  

“Alone! Alone!” The Raven rapaciously reminded.  

“Shut thy beak! Speak no more!”  

“Alone! Alone!”  

I covered my ears, the Prophet’s caws piecing.  

The ebony shimmer of the Raven’s feathers,  

Glinting in the moonlight streaming through my window.  

“Alone! Alone!” So deafening are its words,  

Ever threatening me is that bird.  

“Alone! Alone! Thee remains alone!  

Drowning in your sorrow evermore!”  

I removed my hands from my head,  

My face marked presently with trails of tears,  

“I beg thee then! Share thy wisdom! Tell me,  

How can I face the miserable morrows without my Lenore?”  

The Raven called, “Lenore is gone! Lenore is gone!”  

“Wretch! I am aware! Her angelic light and  

Her aura so bright...  

Vanished from this spoiled Garden of Aideen!”  

“Move on! Get out of thy home of haunted horror!  

Nothing here is good for thee! Nothing here is good for thee!”  

“Raven, what do thee mean?”  

“The morrow will only come if thee  

Accepts the night.  

See the beauty in the midnight dreary.”  

“But, bird, there is only the cloth of darkness,  

Covering the light, the hope!  

I must remain here. Lenore is here.  

All I have left of her is here.  

The memories, the moments  

Remain in this wretched house.”  

The bird tilted its head, questioning, 

His eyes glittered from the moonlight, shimmering through the curtains.  

“Live for Lenore,” The Raven uttered finally,  

Taking flight into the ebony sky, out of my window  

Leaving my chamber entirely empty,  

As I had asked before.  

“Wait! Please! How can I live for the beautiful Lenore,  

Who I once adored?”  

I cried out as the bird flitted behind a whisp of cloud.  

A final caw in the night, “You must. You must!"