Literary Diaries

Beneath the Forgotten Roses

by ANTHONY HAYES

As I walk through the grey mist of night
I come across a bed of roses,
brittle with a dark essence.

Each one slowly crumbling to the rough earth,
below, as I look up I see
an old grey stone.

I lift my frost bitten hands and wipe away
the years of decay; my eyes open wide
to a small engravement –

R.I.P

Was killed by hanging for the murder of
thirty four women on 2 August 1912

Here lies Dave Thompson Jr.

As I read the name, my life flashes before
my eyes; it’s been one hundred years
since I killed them.

Tomorrow my grave will be gone,

but no one will ever forget the horror,
that lives beneath
the forgotten roses

Japanese Water Gardens

by ANTHONY HAYES

Pure drops of beauty
reflections in morning’s sun
colors of rainbows

*A Haiku is a Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.

Living Life by Red Lights

by ANTHONY HAYES

8 o’clock the bell chimes
night covers the sky as the
red lights opens its doors once again.

Walking the same roads night after night,
dressed in seduction and painted masks,
they stalk out their prey and lay in wait.

Thousands go in and out but a select few
can’t help the temptation and get caught
in a web of lies, betrayal, and in some cases, murder.

People all over the world enter a life under the red lights,
but is it worth it knowing that one day they could
become the prey and catch a deadly hunter?