The Life of A Vampire 
by Michael Doyle

A new vampire feels invincible at night
But it's quite the opposite in sunlight.
Transformational in  a flash of firsts,
The provocations are felt in the thirst.

Vampires are the apex predators holding control,
The keepers of life and death without souls.
As we eat our steaks on the dinner plate,
Taking lives is simply the vampiric fate.

Murder is a second language for some,
Embraced as in the dreams of this kingdom.
There is no guilt in its needful embrace,
And the reading of minds is a trick in place.

Mundane as it is useful in reading one's prey,
Food, sex, and home are all most will ever say.
The vampire chases phantoms of its former self,
And learns that some reading is not on the shelf.

There are new habits of need and want to form,
And there are new patterns to which to conform.
These are the habits of the creature of the night,
Taking on new life and away from the daylight.

There is an exclusivity in using weakness to rise,
But if you look close enough, it's in the eyes.
Allowing what is intended as a hateful slight
To become the call and response filling the night. 

The master seeks to train the fledgling's appraisal.
Hoping to skip a turnaround of fate's carousel.
The world is seen through in terms of experience,
Most of it is shameful in its naked deference. 

What is true for one man is not always true
When it comes to the second man's point of view.
Evil, it seems, comes in patterns even in the night,
The brutality of man's prejudice is never right.

As one learns the life of the New Orleans vampire,
One learns of pleasure and burning with desire.
There is a gravitation felt pulling one another in,
This then is the sheer beginning of living in sin.

(c) October 7, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved