Beauty and the Beast of the Subway

 

Beneath the city’s iron veins,
Where midnight hums in ghostly chains,
She rode—a beauty, pale and fair,
With raven hair and hollow stare.

The subway wailed, its lanterns dim,
Its tunnels breathed a requiem grim,
And shadows whispered, “Fate is near—
The Beast awakens, he is here.”

Once told in tales of gilded halls,
A beast was tamed by love’s soft thralls;
But this one, chained by hunger’s creed,
Fed not on love, but mortal need.

Her eyes, like moons, in sorrow shone,
She thought to soothe his heart of stone;
But iron claws in silence crept—
And crimson roses where she wept.

The steel of wheels, the bloodied floor,
The carriage swayed, she breathed no more.
And all the while, the tunnels sighed,
As if the city itself had cried.

Now whispers haunt the midnight train,
Of beauty’s loss and endless pain—
For love may soothe, but never bind,
The beast that feasts in mankind’s mind.