Mephisto - a tribute to Boris Karloff as Mephisto 
           in "Charlie Chan at the Opera"


Gradiloquent in stark and flowing lines
Magnificent in design
Enter into dark, with ruffled collar
Cape that catches all the light
Casting it up
Upon a countenance divine
Devilish smile and power undefined
Impressed upon my mind
Mephisto-singing all the while

Eyes sparkle in the dark
Upon the hearts of all, entranced
And singing all the while
Mephisto-eyes fixed upon the girl
And slowly creeping, silently
Impressing fear upon her heart
She can't escape your smile
Nor the touch of your gripping hand
Mephisto-sinister and wild

So strangely singular you are
A creature unknown of flesh
Are you a bird? with feathers
On your head
Or cat? with sequined smallish ears
Floating, creeping on night's thick air
Mephisto-darkness is your child
You haunt the stage, in beauty kept
And singing all the while

-Kimberly N. Hunt
written 1998

(c) 1998, 1999