Linda M. Crate - Blood Red Moon / In Pursuit of Peace

blood red moon 

the snow fell

but the scarlet still

sang

louder than the white

one vampire down

another scream

it never 

seemed to end,

and he was tiring of the

chase;

once they asked him to join them

he had refused—

now they painted the mayor's 

town in dulcet hymns

of blood red 

moons,

and his dreams seemed torn as

paper moons hung

imperfectly in the sky;

the clock ticked

toward dawn but it could not come

soon enough to save his city—

the man searched

for glory,

and instead found nothing

but dismay.

 

in pursuit of peace 

the thirst

could never be slaked

always it continued

every dawn and every midnight

it remained all the same,

and he wondered

if such a futile existence could

be allowed to extend

into eternity;

he missed the days where he had 

an identity and could make

something of himself

now he was just a corpse walking among

the living and he was always

told of his beauty,

but it only seemed to be a curse

anymore—

he knew the sunlight would kill him,

but he shoved open the doors

anyway

welcomed the edifying fire

that would give him

peace

he had not known even while alive.

Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic was published in March 2015. Her novel Dragons & Magic is forthcoming through Ravenswood Publishing.