The Crypt

I’d only been home for a week or two

And Jeanine was acting queer,

Each time she’d pass the mirror she’d stare

And I heard her say, ‘Oh dear!’

I’d been away for five long years

But she hadn’t changed a bit,

Each time I’d ask, she’d cover her ears:

‘I have to go to The Crypt!’

 

I thought that she meant the local club

Where they drank and danced all night,

‘Aren’t you a little too old for that,’

I’d say, and her face turned white.

‘You’re only as old as you feel,’ she snapped,

‘If only,’ was my reply,

‘Whether we like it or not, we age,

And then, we finally die.’

 

She put her hands to her ears, and shrieked,

‘Don’t ever say that to me!

You can die, but I’ll still go on,

I’ll be what I want to be.’

I stood quite shocked as she raved, she cried

And turned and ran from the room,

I didn’t know what to make of her,

So sat, half stunned in the gloom.

 

She’d always worried about her looks

Had made up her face for hours,

I’d said, ‘You’re really compulsive, Sis,’

She’d take innumerable showers.

I said, ‘You’re washing yourself away,

There’ll be no oil in your skin.’

‘But don’t you think that I’m beautiful,’

She’d say, with an evil grin.

 

She’d never married, but dated men

Who would compliment on her looks,

‘He said I’m like Cleopatra,’ or,

‘Like Helen of Troy in the books!’

‘Words are cheap,’ I would say to her

And she’d fly right into a rage,

‘You’re always trying to put me down!’

‘You’re like a bird in a cage!

 

Always fluffing your feathers up

To say, ‘Hey look at me!’

Don’t you care for the things in life

That are not complimentary?’

But she would shrug and ignore me then

She was vain beyond compare,

I didn’t know that she’d signed a pact

With the Devil, in her despair.

 

The weeks went by and her mood got worse,

She was nervous, I could see,

Her hands would tremble and she would curse

Applying her toiletry.

The wrinkles set in around her eyes

‘So much for that cream I bought!

I’ll have to go to The Crypt,’ she cried,

And burst in tears at the thought.

 

One day I spied her out in the street

Down by a ruined church,

She forced her way past the battened door

And disappeared with a lurch.

I waited hours, out there in the street

To see when she’d reappear,

Then realised she’d gone to the crypt

In the bowels of that church, in there.

 

She came out walking, as in a trance,

So beautiful, redefined,

I couldn’t believe the change in her,

I thought that I’d lost my mind.

The girl I saw was only a shell

Of the woman who once was whole,

Whoever she’d met in that evil crypt

Had walked away with her soul!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Ravyne Hawke]

I often think of the people today who get all that plastic surgery to make themselves look younger (but really alien!) have sold their souls to the Devil too.. in this day and age, your lady here would be going to a surgeon instead of a crypt. Great write, as always, David.. quite Poe-ish and entertaining.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Unfortunately, this is what society does to women; and now, men are falling into this as well. It's a shame that we as human beings don't put more value on the really important things.

[Lena M. P.]

Such is the vanity of man that we feel we must stay young and live forever. But those that feel that way a doomed to live a shallow and unfulfilled life. I may not like my wrinkles or the creaks within my knees but I feel content that I have lived life and earn each age spot like a badge. Great piece David.

[thibodauxguy]

As so many have already said, this was outlandishly and evilly good. You carried it to its final resting place and within the lines of this beauty were great rhyme. Spooky and bizarre.

[Keith]

Another great yarn. The every day language adds to the believability, amazing how you work it into perfect ryme & meter. Enjoyed that heaps.

[dw817]

⊰ℙℝ⊱
Wow was this ever creepy and rhymed excellently ! I was definitely not expecting that ending. Minju I imagine many a man out there would have their woman trade brains for beauty. Popular research shows that the stupider and sillier they act, the better chance they have of getting laid that night.
http://bit.ly/10jwmsM
My - whatta shallow society we live in !

Personally I keep hoping I'm gonna find my intellectual equal regarding computers and then we're gonna rock the night away ! :D

[TrimarcoRansome]

Wow! It reminds me of The devil goes down to Georgia!! Great story of a plight that so many women are blighted. Vanity is deep rooted insecurities, flesh eating parasitic malady, unfortunately one which sweeps our nations. If only they could see that the stress of it causes more rapid aging! Your penmanship is truly incredible David, I am always left with such vivid mental picture reels from reading your work.
An absolute pleasure.

[emmajoy]

BRILLIANT! David, i really don't know how you manage to tell such a tale with oodles of fun, fine phrases and yet still adhere to metre! Well, of course, i/we know you can do it because you know how, are a master in/of it! So enjoyed this write, love the humour, the flow, etc.

'I thought that she meant the local club ~ Where they drank and danced all night, ~ ‘Aren’t you a little too old for that,’ ~ I’d say, and her face turned white. ~ ‘You’re only as old as you feel,’ she snapped, ~ ‘If only,’ was my reply, ~ ‘Whether we like it or not, we age, ~ And then, we finally die.’

[Tate Morgan]

Oh this is good Dave. There cant be much difference between selling our soul to the devil and paying the church to get us a ticket on the train to heaven. But I suppose i know many a woman who would do just the same here. Beauty we are told is worth more than gold.

[Marie]

Some women will do anything to be beautiful. But what good is beauty without a soul behind it?