The cold iron spikes
pierce your heart and your lungs
until your blood-soaked scream
dies against the echoing shell
of the Iron Maiden.
You pray for the blackness of death
to wash away your crimson tears
but as you squirm in the shadows
the spikes just laugh at you
and pour salty sweat into your wounds.
Why are you still alive?
Your eyes dart back and forth
searching through the tiny slit of light
for a friendly face
someone who will set you free.
But they can’t see you!
You writhe in your rusty coffin
trying to scream for help
but all that you can hear
is the gurgling puss
burning in your throat.
A woman looks your way
and you shake against the heavy lid
to get her attention
but she just turns her head
and walks away
because the sight of a trembling iron maiden
oozing blood onto the floor
sickens her.
Why are you still alive?
You twist and turn
trying to knock the iron prison open
or at least sever the arteries
that are keeping you alive.
You can’t moan, you can’t scream,
and you can see a sliver of the world
but you can’t touch it
and no one can see you
or the spikes that eat you alive
from the inside.
This is life in the Iron Maiden.
Every twitch brings you pain
but you never stop struggling
to be free.