INFERNO ISLAND / by Joe Castorino

Act II

After Cassano escaped with the Lady,

  The Dark One’s anger began to flare,

The pretty island’s face painfully writhed,

  As it exhaled a sickly stench into the air;

The false paradise powerfully quaked and its

  malevolent skin became heavily scarred,

It transformed into a dark, wicked wasteland,

  Whose grisly visage was blackly charred.

 

A few days later, Gonzalo groggily awoke

  On its cadaverous black-sand beach,

Dagger-like lightning bolts lit his path,

  And shelter he was hoping to reach;   

The vomited lava flow had hardened,

  But it was still warm under his feet,

He was all alone in this ghastly place,

  So his heart was drumming a beat.

 

In the gloom, he saw the mouth of a cave

  And it was bursting with fiery light,

Standing in the midst of murky black mud,

  He began to hear shrieks of utter delight;

He silently and stealthily peeked inside,

  Not very sure of what he would see,

Dozens and dozens of merry maidens

  Danced convulsively with reckless glee.

 

Looking inside, there was a massive cavern,

  With flames seductively bright,

Lava cascaded smoothly down the walls,

  Like a bubbling curtain of red light;

Spear-like stalactites of ice jutted out,

  In the colors of a dazzling rainbow,

And everything which Gonzalo observed

 Was bathed in the most enchanting glow.

 

The large chamber had a circular base,

  And the lava flowed into a moat,

Transporting passengers back and forth

  Was a grand and luxurious boat;

This moat ringed around a tropical forest,

  Its trees loaded with the juiciest fruit,

And the song of the siren-like girls

  Sweetened the sensual strings of a lute.

 

Gonzalo breathed in the scent of spices

  And was captivated by its lovely perfume,

But then he noticed a flaming black altar

  Was located in the dead center of the room;

Dozens of magic maidens erotically danced,

  Filled with electric ecstasy around the altar,

They spasmodically writhed in wild delight

  Until their girlish strength began to falter.

 

There was not a single man to be seen,

  It was a world of the most beautiful girls,

Their colorful dresses were short and tight,

  And they were stitched with little pearls;

Suddenly, one of the maidens leaped up --

  She was playful and seemed ready for fun,

She screamed with joy, “Look up, girls!

  That handsome man must be The One!”

To be continued tomorrow…