Library Of The Laughing Book
© Surazeus
2026 08 23

To paint the color of soft river sand
with simple sorrow of the happy girl
who loves to dance among the apple trees,
she asks Icarus with butterfly voice
if he will teach her body how to fly,
but his open mouth shimmers ocean full.

Strange gleam of sunlight on the asphalt street
reveals true nature of gossamer thoughts
which veil her body on lawn of wet grass
before library of the laughing book
which records in writhing runes of the real
sad tale of every soul who ever lived.

Before Tara can escape the empty church,
the vampire disguised as priest in black robe
traps her spirit as the white butterfly
who flutters desperately in the glass jar
which Joshua taps when he visits at dusk
when he searches for how she disappeared.

Grinning at clever joke the vampire priest
tells to hypnotize him with snake eyes,
Joshua pulls hat low over his pale face
and fillips river stone that cracks the jar
just as the priest shrieks in terrible rage
so she flies away as he dodges claws.

Holding hands with firm compassion of trust,
Tara and Joshua run over the field
among cows of melancholy desire
while the priest transforms into thirsty bat
that chases them when clouds hide the bright moon
till they hide in her cave on the lake shore.

Clutching oak wand he carved into sharp point,
Joshua gazes in eyes of Tara, green
as thick moss on the river stone of faith,
then lunges at dark shadow of despair
to stab the priest straight through his rotten heart,
who writhes and shrieks till his soul dissipates.

Digging behind the church in morning light,
dozens of grim villagers excavate
unmarked graves of young girls who disappeared,
kidnapped and abused by the smiling priest,
whose rotten body on the grass decays,
and mothers weep over skulls of their daughters.

Time reveals color of soft river sand
when rainbows shimmer over wind-blown woods
so Tara calls her children to come in
who hop and flap their arms like Icarus,
then gather at the table of calm faith
to eat sandwiches and drink apple juice.

surazeus.blogspot.com/2026/08/…

Orpheus records in the Library of Laughing Books the case of the vampire priest who was eliminated by Joshua and Tara who live safely now in forest of butterflies.

#Poetry #Poem #Pastoral #Necropastoral #MetaModernism #Transrealism #NewSublimity #NewRomanticism #AmericanDream #Cinemism #Existentialism #Surrealism #NegativeCapability #NewGnosticism #MetaRealism #NewTranscendentalism #Astarism