Palace prison that is my soul, rivers of blood run from its core;

Collecting in a pool of rum, turning that amber fire red with blood;

Causing nosy bastards to oooh and ahhh, for their eyes and souls have neither seen nor known the magik of a dark abode;

Taste of the red rum if you must, but in your heart it will become an amber stone of blood and flame;

The tears you know not why you shed, they flow because you feel my pain and shame…

Sacred white elephant of the Far East, that’s what my pain looks like and means to me, her name is Beautiful Misery–make me feel, make me bleed…

Walls of jade my soul encircle;
Pride and Dignity, my guardian wolves with eyes of purple;
Barbed wire wrapped in flowering vines, that’s what exists around my mind…

Remnants of a tattered heart, innocence ripped apart;

Feelings of love like smoke they drift away, and power games is all that’s left at the end of today;

Darkness is engulfing me, fighting the pulsing beat;

My ego has become my god, my conscience is no longer up to par…

What am I to do, dearest heart?

We danced our youth in a dreamed of city, Venice, paradise, proud and pretty, We lived for love and lust and beauty, Pleasure then our only duty. Floating them twixt heaven and Earth And drank on plenties blessed mirth We thought ourselves eternal then, Our glory sealed by God’s own pen. But paradise, we found is always frail, Against man’s fear will always fail.

This woman has been my inspiration since I was a child for so many reasons, but most of all because she showed me the incomparable beauty, power, and hidden depths revealed by the sheer magic of poetic prose. Because of this long-dead, barely remembered, and utterly unconquerable woman who had the inner strength and bravery to stand proud in the face of men, as though she were their equal, even as she used her wiles and wit to ply her trade as a courtesan in 14th century Venice; that inner dignity and her refusal to be less than any man mentally is what made her such a fine poetess, and an inspirational role model for me as I grew. I fell in love with poetry the day I saw Dangerous Beauty, and ever since the written word has been to me the most beautiful language of all.