Mother's Keeper

Dilapidated shack located in the middle of the woods
so far from any city,
mother lying on worn out mattress,
looking so much older than her middle age years,
trembling as death slowly claims her life.
Her daughter sitting next to her,
holding her hand,
feeling the fear and sadness
from how far her mother's life had declined,
once a consort to rich and powerful,
remembering how they dwelled in a townhouse,
filled with elegance,
watching the nights when lovers would come
doting extravagant gifts
in return for a trip up the flight of stairs
to where the bedroom held legendary promise of paradise.

In her gasps, forcing the last words,
the elder dying woman warns,
"don't make my mistake and seek the lake. 
Please avoid the keeper.  Please..."
the words ending with her last breath,
life exhaled, spirit gone.

Daughter doing as commanded, burns the shack
before leaving to travel to city
where she will keep her promise
seeking an ordinary life, free from magic
that she might claim by communion with the keeper,
for though it brought riches and lovers,
there was a price, the curse of dying in poverty
before the keeper claimed your soul.

Trying so hard to fit in, finding a job, making a modest living,
but always haunted by the images of living in luxury,
silencing the voices who whispered, "go to the lake."

Then one day, she met a man who captured her heart,
surrendering herself to his arms,
loving him deeply, willingly giving him her innocence,
only to have him leave her pregnant and alone.

Her heart turned to anger, she felt so violated and abused,
spirit broken, heart crushed, slowly surrendering to her only option.

Standing at the lake at midnight, nervously holding up the lamp,
swallowing her anxiety as the keeper comes
looking as terrifying as her mom described.

As the banshee specter begin to possess her essence,
feeling the dark energy swell and fill her being,
a sense of power came over her,
no doubt the same her mother felt
when she stood pregnant years ago,
having made the same choice as her mother had.

Falling on the ground from the communion,
knowing life would change for now,
happy she would be able to give her child such blessings,
praying eternity would not be as horrible as she had been warned.