Magician’s hand (Photo credit: mWei2010)

He said ‘you’ll be my apprentice to darkness and light’
He festered in hallways dripping sigils, with flames burning bright
And I thought I’d surrender, believed that I might
Learn of secrets so hidden, so lost in this night

He spoke of such craft honed through years of lost learning
The eros of magic and the dread power of yearning
I was far too innocent and not learned, discerning
To know the price of such wisdom is despair and is burning

The force of the will through the dark hue of one eye
A voyeur of life he’d lurk in shadows and spy
And he’d laugh and deride should I dare ask him why
‘The power is all, till the day that you die’

He said ‘you’ll be my apprentice and learn all my skill’
And to drink of his vision required all loss of will
But I struggled to conquer, to grow with this till
I knew only survival could be claimed by a kill

I was his apprentice and I fed from his words
I felt that full mastery was the least I deserved
And while he tried to delight with the dark and the absurd
I found my true graduation though the slice of a sword

© Helen Valentina 2013 All Rights Reserved