A Sunday sacrifice condensed
Golden amber sprites compete
Cries of life echo their last bequest
As prongs and tongs poke
Black bars sizzle on cold dead flesh

Sweetened smoke invokes
the demon's first bite
Mind controlled spoke of rites
The decree of three hundred degrees
Old and new viewed
on separate pews
Charcoal bright a dusty white

Rules do vary with belief in
the division of meat
Breathe in look up
Give thanks to the energy received
Respect both life and death in defeat

When the power grid crashes,
let's dance under the streetlights--
lit up only by the moon
and the tree sprites

Deep inside the wrinkles
of the Blue Mountains
Cold air sits upon
the primitives' throne

Inky echoes stroll the alleys
No living essence have ever
trespassed these halls

Sun's breathe becomes pale
as it touches the gloomy
foothills and crests  

Merely sprites wearing
mantles made of mist
dwell this mountainous region

Even rain seldom visits
to pierce the ghastly silence

Amidst the fog
forgotten tokens may hide
In riddles of old and
astral vague light

At an unknown time of night at our cottage in northern Michigan…
My younger brother and I heard strange noises coming from the beach again…
We looked up at the ceiling and then the window…
As the voices from outside, in a lively allegro…
Grew softer and louder in repeating crescendos…
We skittered out the door and stared in fascination…
For what we saw must have been our imagination…

The door closed with a creak as our feet hit the grass…
It was at that moment we got a look at the mass…
Of stubby foot, hunchback creatures from which the sounds had amassed…

There was about six of them chanting like a choir…
They danced and paraded around our burnt out fire…
As we looked on, we saw our fire raise…
It got brighter as they lifted their hands in waves…
As light betook the blue beach night…
A crowd of colorfully masked gremlins caught us in their sights!

Their feet slowed to a stop and they quieted down…
They stood still as the fire flickered off their weird wooden frowns…
One reached out his hand in a come-here motion…
They seemed to stand and wait with an encouraging notion…
As the fire crackled and the waves tumbled onto the beach…

All I can remember, is for the rest of that summer…
My younger brother and I served as the drummers…
For that quirky marching band of lake sprites…
With which our burnt out fire we’d reignite…
At an unknown time of night at our cottage in northern Michigan…

Bodies abolished
Floating souls
Space wind
Spirit bones
Waiting hidden
Beyond blackness
Wherein darkhails
Find Yourself