Despoiler

Of its own sweet caress, the dusk doth fall
A shadowed hand that creeps across the lea
The air is thick with whispers, faint but call
And twilight bends in strange, malign decree

Prey for a threefold mandible doth roam
With careless step beneath the fading light
The shadowed despoiler claims his home
Where rustic eve gives way to endless night

Flesh gnawed off for less than hunger’s cry
For what is taken now, none shall reclaim
The stars above, unblinking, cold, and high
Bear witness to the spoils of lust and flame

The fading light doth falter, dim and frail
As night consumes the sky’s once-rosy hue
The despoiler walks beneath the darkened veil
And twilight’s peace is lost to what it knew