I Love Big Brother TOO!!!

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - 4/4 - George A. Romero's classic zombie flick. Tastes like chicken.

Finally finished 1984. I've been reading it for over two weeks. I just've been so stressed about the MTH 135 final. When I'm anxious it seems I can't do anything extracurricular.

notice there've been a lack of poems. so here's one.

Gabriel & Mephistopheles

Near the fringe of a dying wood
Gabriel sat perched upon a stump of yew
Weeping with a broken heart long overdue
His affection turning to hurt as any scorn would
With flickering thoughts of how he could depart for good

It seemed the daughter of the monarch was cold
To which destitute Gabriel was rather blind
Her seldom appearance made the fair maiden seem readily kind
Earnestly wondering why his penniless self had been so bold
The boy ventured further into the tormented forest of old

Gabriel had heard the tales the frightened had spun
As he continued down the shadowy path
Though of what proof of these troubles did the storytellers hath?
These insane beggars the village did shun
He deplored to reason he would turn not as one

Still, a growing dread gripped his being
Warily, he did glance about
His smile twisted into the shape of doubt
For nothing terrible was he surely seeing
Therefore, there were no notions of fleeing

Returning to his marred concerns of his lost ardor
Gabriel reluctantly fancied further dreams of her
Withdrawing his gait to rest against an aging fir
Determined to squander these wishes for ever more
This still gnawed him bitter to the core

A stalking otherworldly drowse did creep
Manifesting abdicable premonitions of the hereafter
Which died away with a most haunting laughter
Gabriel raised his eyes to procure a peep
To which his heart gave a bounding leap

Upon the dirt a man did lay
With a piercing stare that was grim
The lights of his brown eyes seemed rather dim
‘Twas then that Gabriel noticed the signs of decay
For this man had been dead for at least a day

By leaps and bounds a foot was pressed
The body remained thankfully still
However, Gabriel turned rather ill
In view of the being upon his chest
Inside his head, now, fear did nest

“I am Mephistopheles from the land of the dead.”
The creature cried towards the mortal before him
An urge to run was Gabriel’s first whim
“I know the thoughts within your head”
The boy found his feet were made of lead

“I can conjure joy if that is your desire”
The demon expressed with a red book in claw
“I can assure with vengeance, you will have no flaw”
Gabriel wondered if here was a liar
With hopes that may return to his dear Wiltshire

“How do I know you speak the truth?”
Demanded Gabriel reasonably for he thought he knew
What this trickster from Hell would infallibly do
“I vow I only know the sooth”
Spoke the devil uncouth

Gabriel gleaned he was erroneous to mistrust
As he gained a vision of his love in her tower
Trembling by some unusual sentiment of power
This may have been his growing lust
“I’ll sign the book.” For he knew he must

The demon procured a magical quill
Which no bottle of ink was needed to use
His mark was left by the worth he would lose
While it drained to the page he felt a sinister thrill
At the rumination of the blood he would spill

“Your humble servant, young Gabriel…your fancy shall I allow?”
A wish of everlasting love between the maiden you see
‘Twas not the command that he did decree
“Death upon her kingdom, I will have you endow.”
The request was sanctioned with the touch of a brow

“The demise will pass by the sound of the wren.”
Mephistopheles grimly smirked
These tidings held Gabriel slightly irked
For his patience was wearing thin
However, he broke into an unpleasant grin

“Good day, boy. I’ll see you in Hell.”
The fiend vanished with a rap on his book
Thus, Gabriel walked to a nearby brook
He followed it out of the woods to a peasant’s well
Then cut his way to where the noble did dwell

Gabriel arrived at the top of a hill
Where below he discerned the outlines of the palace
Where the harlot softly sipped from the chalice
He continued on his menacing path past a silent abandoned mill
Where he heard a song that quickly grew shrill

Upon a branch there sat a black wren in verse
Astonishingly, not in a soft melodic peep
Yet, with words to make a mortal weep
The lyrics it expelled were quite perverse
In telling the events of a curse

“Six days your world will burn
Two serpents will reign from Hell
Of evil or good man, the dragons cannot tell
This fate the entire kingdom will learn
Six days your world will burn”

The wren took flight into the air
Gabriel knew by heart what was in store
That the ophidians had escaped through Hell’s door
To fill the people with unblemished despair
A cruel punishment that was justly fair

The sky above progressed to black
‘Til Gabriel was sure the sun had at last died
In response he knew the wren had not lied
As fire erupted throughout the attack
It seemed there would be no turning back

Gabriel slept at the end of the day
In the bottom of Hell where his blood ran cold
For it had been his soul he had sold
When he awoke to the inferno in the fray
It was a world living in dismay

The imperishable twilight still did remain
Gabriel drew closer to the walls of the fire
Where the kingdom churned as one last pyre
Inside there were screams from those who had not been slain
In the scourge Gabriel did ordain

So he stood at the close of the second night
Afraid to slip into a tormented slumber
Upon the scorched walls he observed a number
Three identical digits that oversaw human plight
He directly closed his eyes at the ominous sight

The torture ensued within his head
A vivid vision which placed him inside
The walls in which the living hide
The serpents would kill with one look of dread
The moribund falling on a stone cold bed

By some grace he saw light on day three
The sun had returned shining with its bright beam
Casting a glow on the demolished scene
From this apocalypse the kingdom was not yet free
Gabriel knew by what he did not see

Within the walls the survivors filled the streets like a flume
The crisis had vanished this was clear
No more perilous cries did the people hear
Through concern Gabriel walked into the city of gloom
In a swift motion the charred kingdom feel before doom

The domain had collapsed into the pit of Hell
Where a fire was stoked within the fallen land’s bust
For three more nights it burned to dust
Mephistopheles found Gabriel to tell
“Good to see you finally in Hell.”


© Brett Holden