deepundergroundpoetry.com
Victorian Sermon
The tranquil face of cruelty
behoves the devil as a mask.
Than that of domesticity,
there is no hate more intimate.
The girl who can't believe that love
need not be so conditional,
the boy who's long since lost
a need for love consensual...
These faces do not pulse
and burst with necrophilic pus.
They're often deeply false
with lines of youth, beauty.
You find the Devil in its voice,
in how it exercises choice.
behoves the devil as a mask.
Than that of domesticity,
there is no hate more intimate.
The girl who can't believe that love
need not be so conditional,
the boy who's long since lost
a need for love consensual...
These faces do not pulse
and burst with necrophilic pus.
They're often deeply false
with lines of youth, beauty.
You find the Devil in its voice,
in how it exercises choice.
Published 17th Oct 2024
Author's Note
"I believe rather that we may walk unconsciously in an atmosphere of crime, and breathe none the less freely. I believe that we may look into the smiling face of a murderer, and admire its tranquil beauty." - Lady Audley's Secret, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1861 - 62)
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Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
17th Oct 2024 5:14pm
Reminds me of...The Mask Of Sanity"...by Hervey M. Cleckley (1941)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_of_Sanity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mask_of_Sanity
17th Oct 2024 8:49pm
Interesting author's note. Can one really know a murder when you are looking straight in the eye's.
The first line open nicely making me believe that I should never take a person at face value.
The first line open nicely making me believe that I should never take a person at face value.
