she lingers there, my dusky doll
cobwebs clasped about her heart
in shadows of a broken glory
doom showcased as an art
once fierce as the relentless winds
darting through the night
now wasted as the weathered planks
on which she spends her nights
this world has wreaked upon my queen
a crown of faith ever-paling
and deep behind those closed-shutter eyes
lies an innocence fast-fading
yet 'neath the stratified charcoal lines
and twisting plumes of smoke
i glimpse the faintest sign of life
a stunted-but-stubborn hope
is it me she's waiting for
to lift her from her place
among the sharpened splinters
of such elegant disgrace
would she look upon me then
and name me her salvation
or yet another simple fool
to join the growing congregation
falling shamelessly upon our knees
we blithely heed the call
of a siren sphinx upon her throne
making victims of us all