Dancing Cheek to Cheek by Sarah Das Gupta

Lovers, dancing cheek to cheek.

Outside, snow drifts

pile against walls and windows.

Fingers of moonlight touch

snow-dressed trees,

pools of darkness

flood the lonely house.

The music quickens,

the tempo, throbbing, insistent.

He holds her closer,

whirling past skeletal chairs,

while rags of black curtains

flap against broken shutters.

A bare bulb hanging from

a dark cord, swings madly,

casting crazy splinters of light

over the mold-covered walls.

The dancers, now silhouettes,

become one shadowy outline,

Twisting, twirling

caught in

the mad crescendo

of music,

blind to dead, eyeless faces

pressed to cracked windows.

 

He feels a stab of pain.

Sharp incisors

piercing, biting

into his neck,

tempting smooth skin, blue veins

Music screaming, darkness descending,

blood running freely.

Valentines, vampires

blood lovers, brothers,

dancing cheek to cheek.

Picture of Sarah Das Gupta

Sarah Das Gupta

Sarah das Gupta is a poet from Cambridge, UK who has taught English in India, Tanzania and the UK. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies in over twenty countries from Australia to Kazakhstan. She has recently been nominated for Best of the Net and a Dwarf Star.

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