When the abyss stares back

"The Mirror"
By R.J. Williamson

Music:

Dreaming deep, I wandered down an old and stately manor's hallways
Past the crumbling marble columns, to a stark and central room –
There a choir of granite angels, aged and weathered, guard a tomb.
Disregarding who was resting in the sacred soil always,
I examined all the angels in her final retinue
One that bore a polished silver mirror struck me – it was new.

“Show me Hell,” I said unto the angel, with her heavy mirror
“Let me see the place of deepest suffering one can endure;
Show me in your mirror.” And she showed a heart, and nothing more.
Peering deep into the silver plane, the image growing clearer,
Reaching out a hand, I touched the bloody, beating organ shown
Then I fell in paroxysm, for the heart had been my own!

Fingers clutching to my chest, where underneath I felt them touching
Nothing less than my own lifeblood, pumping with my very gore!
Crawling on my hands and knees, red fingerprints upon the floor,
I approached the sepulcher the angels guarded, blood now rushing
To my head as I remembered whom the sacred soil bore:
She who made my life worth living, and my days worth waking for.

Here enshrined within the manor of the dreams we made together
Every weathered granite angel bears the face that I adored -
Etched in every marble column, thereupon her name is stored.
In this heart, a Hell of my own making, a forlorn forever
For myself to wait and wander, waste away and dream of her.
From this slumber never waking,
All of Heaven's peace forsaking,
Still upon the Reaper's taking of my soul I wait for her,
Dreaming dreams that never were.

[Ruinbornaftonalwayscomesback]

Man, I really hate when I just look at the abyss to do nothing, and then then the abyss starts staring back! I can’t relax when someone is watching…

[demon_xd_]

Grave robber’s status: -in cardiac and psychological shock- trolled

[thecrabpilgrim]

The melancholy that had poured forth from the poet's tongue hath indeed touched my core, as it had done a thousand times before. I thank thee, wise friend, for thou hast captured my attention from beginning to end, this precious poem my heart did mend.

May thou find thyself never thirsty, the well spring of inspiration ever flow for thee.

[Ahmed_lifts]

"The worse she can say is no.", they said.

[Yeppers]

Oooh, that slow fade in of the face was just *chefs kiss* beautiful

[Vherstinae]

A very pretty and melancholy poem.
Tangentially related, the title reminded me of a great little greentext regarding H.R. Giger: Giger looked into the abyss, the abyss stared back, then Giger held eye contact and started touching himself through his pants until the abyss got uncomfortable and looked away.

[CastleMiser]

The poem's rhyme scheme slowly imitating the Raven is something i adore, and it will echo forevermore

[skywantsanacc]

another really powerful poem by RJ Williamson, i tried looking them up online and I got nothing, but I'm still incredibly appreciative we see poetry featured heavily on your channel.

It was a clever touch that upon seeing "Hell" (his beating heart) he was initially disappointed, almost, at how gauche it was. We, the readers, discover the importance of that beating heart at the same time that the protagonist does -- and what the heart means to the sepulcher, also. A real-life metaphor (at least from the POV of the protagonist), creepy stuff!

[bizmasterTheSlav]

Love is something our brains full of logic cannot comprehend.
It is something only our hearts pumping life's elixir get.

[Mr.Ambrose_Dyer_Armitage_Esq.]

Seems like a lyrical and essential combination of _Ulalume, Annabel Lee, _ and _The Raven._

Poe really was a romantic, in a dark, melancholic sense, and this was an excellent love letter to his genius and grave despair.

[Alex_Fishman]

I came here, expecting a shitpost, however I did not expect a poem that would touch the very being of mine throughout the surface and the deep, echoing across my mind to set off a tingling sense in the darknest corner within my soul...

[Crawsome_Crustacean]

When the abyss gives you pain, make painomade

[redhood]

As a man who had two girlfriends kill themselves and that being the end of the relationship, one of which bearing our unborn child, this spoke to me on too intimately of a level, thanks Burial Goods 👍

[MalleusSemperVictor]

Sartre once wrote, "Hell is other people."

Hell is in all of us.

[Madasahatter]

This is very Edgar Allen Poe and I love it, the rhyme scheme at the end is very much his style, this is so gothic and cool.

[Blacksheep-ikgx]

I thought this was a fable backing track. Made me think of sitting in my brothers room playing Fable 2 with him. Little did I know I would remember those moments more than 15 years later

[TheGreatPioneer-qoth]

"We both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us you blinked."

[awesomeguy]

Another certified banger from Williamson. There is something about the way they write that just pierces my core. Thanks for narrating this beautiful piece Mr. BurialGoods sir.

[Phobos_]

This is genuinely one of my favourites so far

[jade-Olivian]

Ah, that fable music really brings me back.