The Sepultress

by Rhonda Parrish

Her silken song of wind and wave

Called unto those beyond the grave

"Awake!" she cried, "And come to play!"

"I've only 'till the break of day."

And to the shore the dead did come,

In groups of two and one by one

Once there they danced upon the sand

Whilst wicked waves served as the band.

A thousand corpses bobbed and swayed—

Cold bones ratt'ling a serenade

"Dance my children," I heard her shriek

And terror made my knees go weak

From the shadows I watched their throes

While a foul stench assailed my nose.

With my shirt up over my face,

I loosed my guts, to my disgrace.

Above the bluffs, I spent the night

Afraid I might just die of fright

And when the dawn at last did break

All the dead began to quake.

The power drained from empty eyes

As sunlight reached across the skies

Touched, she writhed upon the beach

Yet further still the beams did reach.

They swept across her gory crew

Who fell; puppets with strings cut through

I stood, transfixed as the tide rose

And shivered in my filthy clothes.

I watched the corpses float to sea

And knew no one would believe me

If I to them, did run and tell

About the night I spent in hell.

Because the water swept away

All evidence of their soiree

I lack the courage to be bold -

This pen's the only soul I've told.