Aphelion Issue 292, Volume 28
March 2024
 
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Existence Enough

by David Siegel Bernstein


Ravenous and lecherous,
my fangs seek out beauty,
not the body—the essence.
Purity is my meal.

Can I be saved?
A maiden asked of me.
My fangs
bared my answer.

Centuries later,
Regret slices my hollow soul
into chunks of sorrow.

I can’t be saved,
I answer to no one.

Twisted and wicked,
I am nothing
but existence.


© 2006, 2007 David Siegel Bernstein

David Siegel Bernstein has published literary stories, science fiction, fantasy, satire, poems, and, to his shame, nonfiction. His non-literary projects include: Re-inventing the wheel, the Sisyphus relief project, referring to himself in the third person (as THE David, lest fools confuse him with the other one. Examples of his writing can be found in Reflections Literary Journal, Liquid Ohio, Wanderings, Aoifie's Kiss, Black Petals, Outer Darkness, Bewildering Stories, Anotherealm, Defenestration, Enigma, Static Movement, Afterburn SF, Flashshot , Midnight Times , Kleidotrope, and Apollo's Lyre. He is an active member of the Academy of American Poets and the Science Fiction Poetry Association.
For more information visit his site at www.DavidSiegelBernstein.blogspot.com

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