Isolation and Madness

By T.L. Coston

Did you expect a slobbering fool,
Ranting and raving with spit and drool?
A wild-eyed man whose thoughts are scattered at best
Dressed in his own filth and basking in stench


Maybe I am that man, whom all consider insane
This room suggest my faculties are suspect at best
To be isolated from the general population for fear of murderous intent
No, it is to protect me from the unseen that makes me sick


Oh yes, this is the cause for all my troubles and woes
All these devices that penetrate my brain
Electromagnetic waves that induce headaches
I had to get away - to escape - from this modern-day inferno


Oh, the mountains were so picturesque, and the quiet gave me rest
A haven from a technological assault, few could understand or know
I began to feel like back in the day before this cursed age
Where ubiquitous phones turned people into slaves


This was heaven for sometime, but humans are social
As we all know. To converse, laugh and sing
Interaction with another is a necessary thing
Without it we would go...dare I say - insane


But I was fine for awhile
Conversing in my head wasn’t something to dread
But to hear a voice without a muffled sound
Found me talking aloud, and what conversations I had with myself!

It wasn’t until things went awry
A shadow in the corner came alive
At first a blob without definition or shape
But, through time, morphed into something I could not mistake


This being - this devil - an affront to nature
Assumed my aspect, tone and gestures
Until, I could not distinguish spirit from flesh
For this horror mirrored my image much to my distress


He sat there for sometime, studying my every move
As I did him, each staring at the other not knowing what to do
This went on for days and nights
He and I eyeing each other, measuring - waiting


It was he who broke the silence
I was startled by the sound of his voice
Years of being alone can cripple a mind
Hearing from another made me want to cry


It didn’t take long to know his intent
My doppleganger wanted more than a cabin
He had grand designs on the human race
While I stay imprisoned in this sanctuary


All his evil would be in my name
Death and destruction would be mine to blame
And he laughed and laughed at the prospect
Of a hapless fool stranded on mountain in a cabin getaway


I could not allow this evil to abide
My doppleganger had to die
But how do you kill a shadow turned to flesh and bone?
Easy, with a knife and strokes that are hard and bold


My doppleganger laughed and cried
As I plunged over and over to watch him die
Blood splattered on my face and eyes
Half blinded I slipped and slide in his spectral gore


It didn’t take long for a knock on my door
For a loner is cause for much concern
My neighbors kept a watchful eye
It didn’t help when a fight wakens the whole mountainside


I was arrested for murder in the first degree
Fratricide the papers decreed
They say I did my brother in
That the demon was actually my twin

I was judged criminally insane
Because all my protestations went up in flames
For the demon tested with my DNA
So now I sit here in my stench; drooling and spittling my innocence

A Park Bench Ghost

By T.L. Coston


There is a neighborhood park a couple of blocks away
Where denizens stroll and children play
As squirrels scamper, stamp and chatter
Protesting that this is their domain

‘Tis a bowl of pleasure and sometimes pain
Where laughter wafts a quarter mile away
Punctuated by a high pitched cry of a siren whine
To stutter and stop from a mother’s touch

Down the steps and to the right
There is a park bench situated under a light
And when the weather permits
You’ll see an old man sitting there until sunset

No one sees this gentleman
They pass him by without a care
They’ll sit next to him without a glance
To say hello or inquire is too much to ask

He is a ghost to the denizens of the park
A wayward spirit whose time is sparse
He is just a shadow on a bench
A being whose sunset has come to an end

The Wailing Witch of Weldon Pond

By T.L. Coston

There are no secrets in a village or town
When wagging tongues whisper
As darkness crowds in and sunlight fades out
For Fear has seeded a woeful child
Before it, Courage whimpers away - barren and fallow


Heed my warnings, stranger
The path you have taken, locals have forsaken
From harvest til solstice
This is a dangerous place
Beware of the Wailing Witch for this is her domain


No one knows from whence she came
Nor, can account when the woes began
For this tale is as old as the land
And the pond she’s claimed
Bears the family Weldon; a most unfortunate name


The Weldons made this place their home
Began a family, so the legend goes
Daughters, blessed be, were born - three
Oh, how those girls frollicked and danced
Not a care in the world when you’re not aged ten


Natives warned the Weldons of this forsaken place
For the witch has wailed for many of their race
Young and old who’ve made the mistake
Of venturing through the woods down the way
To her haunt - the pond - after harvest til solstice break

The Weldons dismissed this outlandish tale
For who can believe a barbarous breed
Whose motives are questionable to say the least
God-fearing Christians are not impressed
By heathens and their fables to which there is no end


But then came the night, regret clasped a mournful heart
So cold was the still, flames barely crackled in the hearth
When breath mingles with heat from an uncovered head
Death whispered forebodings that sleeping parents dread
Then came the wail that even the cold couldn’t bear


That’s when the parents shot up out of bed
The wailing was so loud, it could’ve wakened the dead
They dashed to their daughters, but only to see
Beds barren and cold from lack of body heat
“Where are the children?!” the mother looked around and screamed

When the witch wailed thrice, parents gasped in fright
Both ran out the door, unheeded without coat
They followed small footprints embedded in the snow
Through drifts and over ice, both battled wind and night
To the pond, where wails echo, into unearthly flight

As they crested a hill, about thirty yards away
A dark figure, silhouetted in starlight, danced and swayed
It was then they saw her face - a horrible disfigured face
This harpy snarled a toothless grin
Then wailed again and again, clawing at her tattered dress


The Weldon’s recoiled from this frightful scene
When the witch’s wailing morphed into a sickening glee
For this hag visaged a childish coquette
Mocking all that is holy and innocent
Mocking filial love and all it represents


The witch then pointed to the pond
She giggled, then clasped her putrid mouth
But evil cannot be suppressed; she stamped her feet
Then with an awful laugh, she splayed to mock the Trinity
This blasphemy, perfumed in rot and disease, engulfed the whole valley


Just as the witch mocked our lord
The three emerged from an icy vault
The Weldons screamed then jumped into the cold-cold pond
With shivering bodies and chattering teeth
They retrieved their dead daughters and began to grieve

The witch looked on in bemused satisfaction
For evil cannot commiserate, or compassion show
Only to take pleasure in others misfortune and woes
When the witch had feasted and filled
She walked away basking in parental wails


The Weldon’s woes did not abate
For the mother caught pneumonia and died a month later
The father vowed vengeance until his death
He hunted year after year until solstice end
Until, he too, was floating in his namesake's grave


Stranger, I beg you not to go down that path
Oh, I know it’s hard to believe
You’ll repent soon enough, you’ll see
When the Wailing Witch makes her call
And you end up face down in Weldon Pond