As the season drew to a close, he wondered what was going to motivate him to write, to create, to pull tales out of thin air…nothing seemed to do it…with this head in his hand, all he did was sigh and chew on his pencil…whatever was he going to do to get rid of this writer’s block?..that is when he heard it…heard it from none other than the raven…
“This Too Shall Pass”
That nightmare was back…barging into his nights like an unwanted guest…it made him wake up in a cold sweat, gasping and recoiling from something so unreal and yet so frightening…so imaginary and yet so haunting… like the fears that clouded his life, the figure made him afraid to do what he needed to do – sleep!…then when he closed his eyes, all he saw was….
“That Face!”
(A Wet Plate Collodion image)
On Halloween night, you might see him…he still wanders the deep with that ember the Devil gave him long ago…unwanted in heaven, cast away from hell…his existence, an epitome of hopelessness and eternal damnation… he is…
“Jack-O-Lantern”
Suddenly, he stood over me, his presence casting a cold, stifling pall over the room…I jerked back in fear…”It is time”, I heard him say…I gingerly stole a glance his way…I swear, in that dark, hollow and hooded visage, I saw pity….”It is time!”, I repeated to myself…he nodded…slowly, my fear was replaced by another feeling…that of preparedness….I looked up unafraid and said, “I am ready!”…in the distance the alarms were going off….on the screen, I saw a flat line, as the room darkened….and that is what happened….
“The Day the Grim Reaper Arrived”
(An 8” x 10” Wet plate collodion image)
I never told her I loved her….or thanked her for all she did…I never hugged the kids or kissed them goodnight…I missed birthdays and anniversaries…a better son I was not….my death was sudden and now, far away in this desolation, I am haunted by my regrets…surrounded by the darkness, each day is…
“A Judgement Day!”
(An 8″ x 10″ Wet Plate Collodion Image)
“Follow me, my son”, he said to me. I followed him through a narrow, dimly lit corridor. It was very quiet there and the silence was only broken by the sound of our steps on the cold stone and our breaths. Soon, we came to a large wooden door. He rapped on it with his knuckles and it was opened from the inside. I followed him into a dark room that was lit by candles. As my eyes got accustomed to the dimness, I saw the skulls. They were of all shapes and sizes and they were everywhere. I broke into a cold sweat. I think he noticed my discomfort and lay a hand gently on my shoulder. Then he pointed to some rugs in front of what looked like an altar and asked me to sit. I sat down and he sat beside me, assuming a lotus position. I assumed a lotus position too.
I could not take my eyes off the skulls and yet I saw the inscription above the altar. Even in the dim light, I could read what it said:
“The flame of the candle will burn out one day and leave a darkness around it. Until then, seize every moment to make the light of the flame count so when the darkness falls, the last thing you feel is regret.”
Suddenly, I understood the symbology of it all…I got it….that day in…
“The Shrine”
(A Wet Plate Collodion image)
It happened one October day in ‘59….he was waiting for them that day – his wife and her lover…..he was waiting in the bedroom…he stabbed them both…he did not stop till he was bathed in warm, red blood…then he beheaded the corpses…they found the heads beside him in the barn where he had shot himself…they buried the heads of his wife and her lover with their headless corpses….now they say he comes back each October to dig up the heads and stabs at them all over again….then his soul will not be appeased even in death….that soul that seems to be forever full of….
“Anger and Fury!”
(A wet plate collodion image)
He is there when you close your eyes…..you cower in terror at his presence….he haunts your every dream, turning them into nightmares….the daylight does not seem to deter him, then he lurks behind your doubts, uncertainties and weaknesses…and just when you think he might be gone, you see the edge of his long shadow, making you wonder if he symbolizes something deeper….a deep-seated fear that has materialized into…
“The Apparition”
(A Wetplate collodion image)
O Curvy and Gorgeous One,
Where did your beauty go?
It used to radiate like the sun,
Setting your being and life aglow.
Looks that turned all heads,
Male and even female too.
You tore suitors into shreds,
Breaking a heart or two.
Yet now the glow is gone,
The radiance is no more.
No admirers to fawn,
Or even try to score.
Then Death ever so grim,
Did your reflection even dim.
O Strong and Handsome one,
Where did your strength go?
Your life was full of fun,
Always leading the show.
The ladies swooned over you,
Wishing in your arms to melt.
From you, the men took their cue,
Before your suaveness, they knelt.
Yet now that physique is gone,
The striking looks no more.
No dainty admirers are drawn,
To your now very lonely door.
Then Death ever so grim,
Did your reflection even dim.
You Cold and Stealthy One,
Why do you plague us so?
Must you always stun,
Such misery always sow?
No one is safe from you,
Then your cold fingers reach far.
Into each psyche you finally tattoo,
Pain and a deep, endless scar.
Thus into living, we must fully dive,
And our time wisely use.
Each minute we must strive,
Our lives with the good to infuse.
Then Death ever so grim,
Will soon our reflections even dim.
© Nana Dadzie Ghansah 2018
This was not what they said it would be like!…His whole life, he had lived for this moment and now… and now…he was staring at eternity and all he saw filled his bones with…
“Pure, unadulterated Terror”
(A wet plate collodion image)
