Madman
By Val Gryphin


You are struggling to stay insane in a world that demands from its lovers nothing but sanity.
You fight with the laughing demons within, who cajole you to sell your soul for a couple of coins or a bowl of warm bread and milk.
The midnight hour lures you with its calls, inviting you to join it in its mad revels of passion and death-
And to fly across the sky on the back of a dragon you know does not exist.
You smile at the little things no one else can see,
And sneer at their petty problems, which send them scurrying about like so many ants from a damaged hill.
The darkest hour's wind is your lover, and her handmaids, dew and mist, wrap each of your limbs softly, caressing you as they whisper the secrets they've seen to your open and thirsty ears.
You demand everything from everyone, but often they drink your blood and wipe their mouths on your sleeve -
Then laugh and spit in your mouth as they leave you lying on the ground.
You hate them, but what can you do? There are so many of them and only one of you.
They demand from you everything, and you must give and give until there is no more.
And you must struggle to stay insane in a world that has only use for sanity.


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Val Gryphin lives in the in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes and works on her plans for world domination. Visit her at http://valgryphin.com