ghoul-

Silently amongst the shadows

It moved, flesh

Dangling from its jaw.

Lurching away from the light.

The moon is its enemy. It survives

In impenetrable black, terrified of

Day, gnawing on rodent's bones and dead cats

Pining for fresh human flesh

It is cursed to avoid.

Once, it was a man

With an elegant house enlivened with peonies

A BMW parked in sight of the neighbours

A £1000 suit. He drank the finest brandy

From coloured glass and had

A choice of mistresses.

Rich and handsome,

Women were an easily acquired accessory

Without substance. Used to

Wealth, he treated others with marshalled contempt,

And back then, he hadn’t yet learned to be nice to witches

Equally, he hadn’t learnt

To avoid creepy places.

One cold damp night, swelled up

With six brandies, groping

 Through the poorer part of town,

Before  sightless window and embedded shadows

He dumbly heard  the flat clap of heavy footsteps

The sly steps of the stalker

He darted looks around and around,

Shivering in trepidation. Dark clouds

Flooded the sky,

The light disappeared,

A blood soaked hand fell upon his shoulder

And teeth dug deep into his neck.

His flesh fell away, his veins dried

His face caved in like a corpse

His breathe ceased. In a moment,

His attacker gone, he was no longer a man

But a ghoul.

The witch’s humour, although rarely seen,

Was excessive and unrelenting. Not only had

She cursed him to be a ghoul

Forever, but a ghoul that feared the very

Flesh he was meant to feed on.

Alone, she could be heard chuckling

Thinking of his fate once Eastenders was

Over, settling down for the night with a cup of

Earl Grey under a bright blue duvet.

Increasingly bent, hands dripping with mud

And corrupt flesh, he avoided cemeteries,

His natural feeding ground, scrambling instead

In gardens and parks, searching for foxes.

He howled with hunger.

Fox meat tasted foul; rat indigestible

Reeking of urine.

He gobbled insects with dissatisfied fury.

 Scavenging through dustbins

For scraps; half eaten chunks of meat.

By day he slept beneath the earth,

The stench of the tempting dead, his

Near neighbours,  filling his nostrils

Pestered by worms which burrowed

Into his discoloured skin

Creeping into his mouth and swimming through

His eyes.

His reflection instilled fear,

Afraid of his image, growing

Daily demonic and bestial, falling on

All fours, covered with fetid fur

And poisonous saliva.  Scurrying

Through the city like an unwanted pet.

It pays to be nice to everyone, no matter who

Just in case, they put a curse on you

The waitress with the beautiful smile just might

Be a ghastly creature of infinite night.