A Truism

Desire is a terrain where body and soul conspire and betray in equal measure.

The Black Velvet Band

The Black Velvet Band is a traditional folk song with roots in Ireland and the British Isles. It tells the story of a young man who is tricked by a beguiling woman and sent to Van Diemen’s Land as punishment. Like many folk songs, it has been passed down through generations, each singer shaping the story in small ways.

I wanted to create my own version, as I relate deeply to the tragedy of being deceived, to the sense of fate and misfortune overtaking ordinary life. 

 

 • • • 

Her neck arched pale – a swan in flight –
Yet terror slept beneath that light;
The gentle laugh that drew me near
Was Zeus’s craft, precise and clear.
O heed, young lads, take warning well:
The fairest eyes may cast a spell;
What seems so soft may bind so fast –
I learned too late, and paid at last,
In the cruel black velvet band.

Before the judge I stood undone,
Seven hard years beneath the sun;
Friends and kin like smoke withdrew,
My youth went cold, my name untrue.
Yet still her hair, that swanlike grace,
Pursues me through each barren place;
Her eyes – her eyes – like diamonds gleam,
The afterimage of a dream,
Held tight by the black velvet band.

So hear me, lads, when ale is poured
And laughter skims the tavern board:
For beauty keeps a killing art,
And innocence a sharpened heart.
Her diamond gaze still takes its stand,
Her hair a wing at my command –
And I, by fate and lust unmanned,
Went down beneath the velvet band.

 

 

Terrible Miracle

Healing is not relief; it is possession. Knowledge is not triumph; it is invasion. 

The body, once pliant, is no longer yours.

The mind, once solitary, is no longer yours.

Every heartbeat is an echo of forces you cannot name, every thought a corridor through which some alien presence walks.

And yet, the miracle compels you to continue, to live, to marvel.

And in that marvel lies the terror, the exquisite, unrelenting terror, of knowing that life itself is no longer your own, but a canvas for currents that move unseen, endless, and merciless.