Haunted Night - for Halloween

Haunted Night

Moonlight sifted through the pines
making ghostly shadows in the night forest.
The sound of chanting floated down
from the monastery on the hilltop.
I stood in my tattered nightgown
considering where I was to sleep this night.
Following the stream, as it danced and shimmed
across egg-shaped rocks I found its source.

The oval pool reflected the moonlight
in rippled circle patterns
as the night breeze blew cold and damp.
I heard a rustling in the bushes
and felt cold fear course down my spine.
But it was only the wind in willow trees.
I lay down to take my rest, but I couldn’t sleep.

My mind wandered back to distant memories,
which faded into blurred images
the further I traveled back in time.
I remembered my lily-white first communion dress,
all stained with the blood of my girlfriend.
My parents thought I was insane
and for a while, I lived in the sanatorium.
 Since then I had suppressed my hunger for blood
and lived the life of the proper wife,
with a husband and children.
What had led me on this fateful night
to break my vow of abstinence
and drain the village woman
as she innocently leaned over the well
pulling up the bucket of water?
I could not fathom why I had surrendered
to my animal hunger
and forfeited my marriage and children
and perhaps my life itself.

I gazed up at the monastery on the hill
and the heavenly music filled my heart with longing.
If only I could turn back the hands of time.
If only I could be snuggling against my husband’s chest
in the warmth of my bed,
my quilt wrapped around me
and his warm kisses covering my body.
Thinking these things was too painful.
My mind was shocked into paralysis.
I could not ever go back. This much I knew.

Then in the darkness of the forest
I saw a line of torches moving like ants
toward my wooded sanctuary.
I leaped up and ran like a stallion,
dashing through the forest.
I tripped and fell and heard the sound
of baying hounds approaching.
Looking up a tall woman with skin glowing
in the haunted night looked down at me.
She grasped my hand and led me
to a small opening in a hillside.
She led me through the opening
into a dark maze of catacombs.
She held me and kissed me lightly on the cheek.
She whispered softly in my ear, “Welcome home child.”