Tales from the Dark Side...of Love Giveaway: Simon Jenner on Lust

I, like Bianca, am interested in the dark side of love ... well to be more accurate, my fascination lies more with lust and how it manifests itself as love in the minds of those caught in its unyielding grasp. The afflicted call it love, their objects of desire deem it infatuation and those looking in from the outside ... well ... we know exactly what it is: LUST. 

Of course, it's a sin according to many, yet is anyone really free from its pull?  No partner, wife or husband is immune from feeling attraction towards others.  What is this feeling if not the first stirrings of lust?  And love at first sight? Really!!!!!  Chemical changes in our bodies cause these confusing emotions, but despite this understanding, those under lust's spell remain firmly in denial.

Lust brings out the ugly in the best of people and generates conflict galore in every medium:  Films - Play Misty For Me and its virtual remake Fatal Attraction; Books - Fifty Shades of Grey and its thousands of precursors and imitations since; for the thousands of titles under the 'Coming of Age' genre, I read LUST; Songs - Don't Stand So Close To Me and a million or so others.

Lust is undoubtedly one of life's most destructive forces, disguising itself and doing untold damage to those it touches directly or indirectly.

For the world, this is bad news.  For writers, it's a gift from the gods.

I leave you with my poem, Mistress Lust, in which I try to convey the darkest of the seven deadly sins:

Mistress Lust

Man is basic, flawed, primeval,

Evolution surely rushed.

Passion’s blood boils over,

Longing, yearning, serving lust.

 

I sought a softer passion.

Less angry, more robust,

But soft is weak and wilting

When clashed with Mistress Lust.

 

I came, I saw, I conquered.

Your fear, my smugness waived.

Lust tore away love’s goodness.

My will, my mind, enslaved.

 

Your beauty stole my breath.

Your kiss, my demons woke.

My lust no longer shrouded,

Beneath its righteous cloak.

 

You screamed ‘NO’. No, you begged me,

To take you hard and just,

To love you, hurt you, use you,

It’s all the same to lust.

 

My strength, my need, my nature,

Could not be held, denied.

It was consensus, albeit silent,

My legal counsel tried.

 

Devastation is the aftermath,

Life ruined, damned to dust.

The monster never falters,

This mistress we call Lust.

 

Incarcerated, boxed, forgotten,

Reviled and rightly cuffed,

My scent calls out to others,

‘Come gratify your lust.’

 

Abused, abhorred, abandoned,

Bones broken, body bust.

Like the purity I pillaged,

Hope is ripped apart by lust.

 

Life seeps from its fleeting host,

My soul is downward thrust.

In Hell the devil lifts his glass,

‘To my slave, my servant, Lust.’

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Simon Jenner is the author of the ‘Ethan Justice’ action thriller series, which he hopes will make you laugh, cringe, cry and cheer. He would love to hear from you via his website http://SimonJenner.com or on Goodreads, Facebook or Twitter.

Bianca’s Note: My father has groused for years that he thinks Fatal Attraction is a blatant copy of Play Misty for Me.  I have to say after finally seeing the latter a few years ago, he has a point (or two).  As Simon said, lust is good business for a writer, even if it’s bad news for real folks.

Thanks to Simon for his insights into this fascinating deadly sin!  He’s offering a paperback copy of his book, Ethan Justice: Origins, so be sure and enter below for your chance to win along with lots of other fun prizes!

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