He presses it into your hand,
the butler whom you can’t recall.
It bears My Lady’s rose-lipped brand,
reek-flushed with a rotting pall.
The butler whom you can’t recall:
a suit of shadow and deceit,
reek-flushed with a rotting pall.
Blank-faced vile but awfully neat.
A suit of shadow and deceit.
The seeker of her paramours.
Blank-faced vile but awfully neat.
Though you’ll be hers, she won’t be yours.
The seeker of her paramours,
wherever you go he’ll find you well.
Though you’ll be hers, she won’t be yours.
You’ll read the note and start the spell.
Wherever you go he’ll find you well.
Your scent is in the nuckskin book.
You’ll read the note and start the spell,
another victim she has took.
Your scent is in the nuckskin book,
inscribed in blood in her boudoir.
Another victim she has took.
You’re next. Don’t run. You won’t get far.
Inscribed in blood in her boudoir,
thus all who catch her fancy go.
You’re next. Don’t run. You won’t get far,
for you’ve been picked by Lady Shadow.
Thus, all who catch her fancy go
courting her against their will.
For you’ve been picked by Lady Shadow.
Her needle teeth have blood to spill.
Courting her against their will.
The faceless butler brings her note.
Her needle teeth have blood to spill.
You yearn to flee. You know you won’t.
The faceless butler brings her note.
It bears My Lady’s rose-lipped brand
You yearn to flee. You know you won’t.
He presses it into your hand.
All we know of her,
flesh charm Deamon of the night
is her titled name.
Jack Rendell is a poet and fantasy writer raised in Mid Wales and a graduate of Aberystwyth University’s BA and MA creative writing schemes. His poetry explores imagined topographies and speculative concepts through the lens of nonsense verse and is often inspired by Welsh and other mythologies. Jack’s writing has appeared in Electric Reads, Wandrian MA Anthology, Cheval 12, and These Pages Sing. Jack works in a primary school near Aberystwyth where he lives with his wife Alice and their menagerie of dogs, cats, chickens, and guinea pigs. When not writing, Jack enjoys walking, tabletop roleplaying games, amateur dramatics, and lots of tea.
Published 2/14/25