Cerement

I ended nine lives
That I might live my own.
The grey rats of these gutters
Praise my name ere they eat.

I invented seven sins
There were never enough.
Candles drip on the tongues
That wish they were mine.

I eluded four winds
The sire of them craves
To choke down the chimneys
And breathe smoke in my hair.

I enthralled three kings
They search for me still
At every door, every dog
Sniffing shreds of my past.

I nourish two ravens
They wait for my death.
The ink from their feathers
Is all I have left.

I am the reason
Vacant lovers at dusk
Share a grave and deplore
The threat of redemption

And the one thing
They know could be done.