Rising shadows of flames,
dressed in deep void, I arrive
to burn the bramble of your complacent life.
You hide inside this clay façade,
live for self in idle pleasure,
slumber in this carcass
of addiction and desire.
I hold you down as you writhe in agony,
thrive on your muffled screams.
You smolder in my odious breath.
My laughter, cackling flames.
You recoil, gasping for prayer,
rebuking this demon
and fear that this blood fire
is your last sunrise. Confess,
I fascinate you.
Though cast to the raging depths,
I still rise, a dark angel.
Not all wings are lucent.
This charred cloak is age old,
frayed by lies, greed, addictions.
Inferno flames are still divine.
I am the instigator, the phantom fire
plundering your earth
to crack open your seed
and hasten your growth.
For this you need me, Dark Apostle,
the harbinger sent to alarm and awaken,
to jolt you from trance
into rebirth.
revised The Dark Apostle 05/12/2020
©Barbara Harris Leonhard, extraordinarysunshineweaver.blog; meelosmom.podbean.com (Poetry: The Memoir of the Soul)
Image: “The Devil’s in the Details”, original digital art, ©Martha Harris. See Martha’s Artistic Flarings@artisticflarings.blog
Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver 
The Dark Apostle’s delivery to his victim (recruit?) captures the depth of the darkness in the image.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Ken! I love my sister’s image with the poem. Yes, I wonder…Victim? Recruit? or Client?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like all your references to fire. Europeans historically burned brambles to make bonfires. “Charred cloak” is a good, strong image, although I do not agree with many that a little-used image is by definition “strong.” How people arrive at the idea of strong words in a poem I have no idea and Strongly doubt. I also like the cracked open seed mentioned, and it refers me to brambles cracking open as they burn.
It looks to me like the reference to lies, greed and addictions in one line is an effort to make the line general enough to speak to all people, except the rest of the poem refers to me and you, that is, to personal people. Not to be confrontational, but which is it, general or personal?
As always your images are dynamic and challenge me to resolve them to a simple picture.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Chris! My hope is this ‘story’ is metaphorical and addresses a universal theme.
LikeLike