Dark Halls Of Heck

Dark Halls Of Heck
© Surazeus
2024 05 08

Constantly stuck deep in dark halls of Heck, 
filling out endless bureaucratic forms 
for grim devils in gray suits who are strict 
about proper procedures, I attempt 
to float on breath with Julian of Norwich 
and eat rye bread made by Margery Kempe. 

When I attempt to map dark halls of Heck 
based on statues of gods in maze of myths, 
I find its winding streets of haunted homes 
curl out beyond edge of one single page 
in spirals of words from every world tongue, 
and looks nothing like the map Dante drew. 

Milling grain for beer in dark halls of Heck, 
I seek to understand the voice of god 
who howls at me in gentle summer breeze, 
so in moonlight I sing with thirsty bats 
till I find the abandoned iron rod 
that son of Jesus wields as the Sea King. 

Seeking warm comfort in dark halls of Heck, 
I flee confining walls of paradise, 
where angels slave in vast satanic mills, 
to wander sun-lit shores of Windermere 
where ghost of William Langland strums a lute 
while chanting vision of his mystic dream. 

If I fail to escape dark halls of Heck 
with skull of Orpheus I stole from Jove, 
I might never begin my pilgrimage 
to stand on Mount Zion with ghost of God, 
and pray at the small inn in Bethlehem 
where Osiris was born from Word of Amen. 

Running from spiders in dark halls of Heck, 
who shriek all my failures and weaknesses 
through voices of celebrities and saints, 
I stab wings of Icarus in my heart 
and fly beyond stone walls of paradise 
to preach sermons on television screens. 

Typing movie scripts in dark halls of Heck, 
that detail life and times of scientists 
who write laws of the universe in code, 
I follow Eve from jail of paradise 
to gather serpent eggs for Easter feast, 
and play harp as she dances drunk on fame. 

Finding shy Lilith in dark halls of Heck, 
I kneel before her on one bended knee 
with jeweled Ring of Invisibility 
and ask sea witch if she will marry me, 
so we fly airplane to the Holy Land 
where Shekinah weeps tears of divine blood.