Midnight in Bordeaux

Burgundy once met with an airy, lavender eve.
Iris petals and balloons, floated an Autumn breeze.
Scarlet oak and sycamore lined sleepy, shady paths.
Ticket booths warm-welcomed crowds buzzing like honeybees,
Carnival enraptured, captured to please.
Sugar rimmed glasses, cherry jubilees.

Overarch were old posters, snapping, waving us in.
A magic man drew his wand like a sword wielding knight.
'Peek unique!', hollered out, 'There's a freakshow on the left, -
For a token, peep the showgirl, burlesque on the right, -
Step right up,... the funhouse mirrors ... won't bite!'
But height was fright, crept from a stranger's sight.

'Round I raced, footsteps chased, following my every move.
Past the corner, popgun shout, 'Win a prize!', I did go.
His painted mask led terror to imagination.
I thought,... this stranger, gone watching, stalking me,... I know.
Wicked comes sure, as crisp, maroon leaves blow.
And Fall is eerie, Midnight in Bordeaux.

'Don't be afraid, hear your fortune!', beckoned a mystic.
'Gypsy', said I, 'tell my tarot, gaze the crystal through!'
Frankincense burned, a black cat purred as the lady hissed,
'You won't meet a stranger,... But a stranger will meet you -
Onyx eyes ... with fire in the blood, anew -
Tale, legend, fable,... but it all ... be true!'

Every good thing must come to an end, 'tis honest phrase -
Tents billowed as wings, while cotton candy swirled to slack.
Ferris wheel lights went out, slowly one by one, 'til pitch,
And carousel, wild horses ran free of their track.
I saw visions that can't be taken back.
As still, chill gazed ... the stranger's eyes of black.

Always, I had wondered, what lasts beyond day's bright stay, -
Is anything immortal, when life unfolds to dust?
Such unknown, dark delights were only ever riddle.
But the unnamed gave answer mid season shades of rust.
And to this stranger's side pulled starry lust.
He magnetized me, easily to trust.

Under an alabaster moon, I sighed, 'I am home.'
The stranger's eyes rolled over red, when fed crimson kiss.
And then, whose whisper kindled my heartbeat with cradle, -
'Betray and farewells be pain you won't miss,-
Though once were tears, think not of the abyss; -
'Strigoi are kindred, born to endless bliss.'

Xiphoid, twin touch siphoned Summer unto its death.
Long after pitiful decay, some will thrive from sieve.
We're carnival monsters, nosferatu, shadow-dreams,
Time is the love, though kill know spill paired by sharpened shiv.
Bond is the blood,... this world has much to give.
Now, I with him,...each victim screams, 'They live!'

© Kay Irvin

~ About going to an Autumn carnival,
meeting a vampire and becoming one.
I wanted to do something a little different
with this poem.
The first letter of each stanza (top to bottom)
spells the word: B.O.R.D.E.A.U.X.