I like "Belfry Spirit." I first posted it back in the old Poetry Plane thread, where my usual modus operandi was to go to Gatherer and hit the "Random Card" button until I found something that sparked some inspiration. I've always thought that there was a certain solemnity to most non-
spirits, and Belfry spirit fits that description for me. The Haunt mechanic is an interesting one flavorfully, because they specifically haunt other creatures, not locations. So here you have a sort of paradoxical situation where the spirit haunts the belfry (as the name suggests) but is, essentially, looking to haunt a person.
So, for my poetic rendition of the card, I wanted to give the spirit a sense of loneliness, of longing to rejoin a world from which he has been cut off. I spend the first four stanzas trying to set the tone, and I'm really happy with that way it turned out. I'm particularly fond of the line "Within those cold and rust-encrusted tones," which I think both sounds really cool, and paints an interesting picture of the bell tower. In the last three stanzas, I try to paint a picture of this spirit as a lonely one, just hoping to interact with the living again. But of course, the only living things he can be near now are the bats, which is one interpretation of the last two lines: that the only ones who ever climb up to the top are the bats themselves.
One last note. When I originally posted this poem, it had some additional spaces in front of many of the lines. These were not essential to the poem, but I always liked the effect, and I felt it sort of added to that sense of distance I was attempting to convey in the poem. At the time I posted it on NGA, I didn't really know about EM spaces or EN spaces or anything, and NGA automatically deletes extra normal spaces, so I basically just went with it. Here is how the poem originally looked, and the way I personally prefer it. Enjoy!
Belfry SpiritAs twilight sinks into a mournful night,
Where something dark and fearful surely dwells,
The shaking flock gives in to mortal fright,
With every note that pours from out the bells.
Within those cold and rust-encrusted tones,
There lies a wrenching, heartless sort of power
That chills the mind and rattles at the bones,
As they escape that ancient belfry tower.
But something colder still awaits above,
Between the rafter's rotten, wooden beams,
Is this the thing your nightmares warned you of,
As, cowering, you prayed for sweeter dreams?
The bats around the belfry flap their wings,
And keep a rhythm mortals cannot hear,
While something there in silence sadly sings
A song that cannot pass a human ear.
A spirit of the dead patrols the boards,
That craft the withered belfry tower floor,
With longing he will cast his gazes towards
A world he cannot wander anymore.
Beyond his rail, there may as well be canyons,
So far removed is he from mortal lands.
The bats are now his only live companions,
And even they pass through his spectral hands.
A lost and writhing soul, he flies unending,
His tiny world denying what he wants,
The only ones who ever risk ascending
The tower, are those he already haunts.
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spirits, and Belfry spirit fits that description for me. The Haunt mechanic is an interesting one flavorfully, because they specifically haunt other creatures, not locations. So here you have a sort of paradoxical situation where the spirit haunts the belfry (as the name suggests) but is, essentially, looking to haunt a person.
