A POEM BY R. STEPHEN
An intense scalding heat
Sears my crown; I sense the mistress nearby
Rays from her menacing gaze
Gleefully anticipating my inescapable slip.
Blood red rain covers the rusted steel
Expelled from my fingertips
Fresh torn skin battles old scars
Numbness now precedes the sting.
From a crack in the red brick of my cell
A mouse dances playfully, willing me on
This moment of reprieve swiftly cut off
As her wooden staff strikes my back.
My plea for forgiveness is silenced
Laboured breath meets the icy air
I wait for my wardress’s decree
My tormenter slips away to the shadows.
Scratched knees scrape over concrete
As I crawl into the blinding light
Muffled excitement from the crowd
Naked, I kneel before the mistress.
Razors lash across my bare skin
No words exchanged as she casts the first stone
The sky turns red as the mob indulges
A festival of humiliation in full swing.
With my arms outstretched
The steely lady drags my limp body
My just penalty delivered
I’m tossed back to the cold chamber floor.
Waking to a playful squeak from the rubble
A sharp pain bites as I turn to resist the mouse
I bow to her baton once more
As I smile knowingly to my tiny muse.
About This Poem
Cycle of Reckoning: A Dark Descent into Power and Surrender
A Cycle of Reckoning is a visceral, symbolic poem that explores power, punishment and the strange intimacy that forms between suffering and survival. It blends surreal imagery with ritualistic tension, creating a narrative that feels part dystopian ordeal, part psychological awakening.
The poem follows a nameless protagonist through a looping cycle of torment: scorching heat, bloodied hands, a claustrophobic cell, a faceless crowd hungry for humiliation. Yet threaded through the brutality is a quiet, subversive companion — the mouse — a tiny, playful muse that represents resilience, rebellion and the stubborn spark of selfhood that refuses to die.
This contrast between oppressive authority and fragile inner freedom is the poem’s emotional engine. The mistress and wardress figures embody external control, while the mouse embodies internal defiance. Each cycle of punishment becomes a metaphor for how people endure shame, expectation and judgement, and how creativity or imagination can become a lifeline even in the darkest chambers.
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