I will always love Vincent

Many people sing in the shower, for better or worse, however I am not one of them. But it was in the shower tonight where it all began.
Mark was enjoying singing and could be heard rather well, singing one song after the other. Then, without my even asking him, he recited "Vincent", right there in the shower, opening up a stream of fond memories.
I've always thought Tim Burton had a bit of a warped mind and this particular short story/poem, which was one of his first, reveals it. ("Nightmare Before Christmas" isn't one of my favorites but I got a kick out of "Corpse Bride"!)
When Mark was in the 8th grade his English teacher assigned them to memorize a poem and then each student would have the opportunity to recite theirs for the class. Mark recited ""Vincent", which she liked so much that she had him do it for the whole school. I was invited to go see him recite and I fell in love. Mark did a really good job and since then I have, on occasion, asked him to recite it again. Usually he is reluctant but tonight, it was on his own. Just for fun, here it is:

Vincent
Vincent Malloy is 7 years old.

He's always polite and does what he's told.

For a boy of his age he's considerate and nice,

But he wants to be just like Vincent Price.

He doesn't mind living with his sister, dogs and cats,

Though he'd rather share his home with spiders and bats.

There he could reflect on the horrors he's invented,

And wander dark hallways alone and tormented.

Vincent is nice when his aunt comes to see him,

But imagines dipping her in wax for his wax museum.

He likes to experiment on his dog Abercrombie,

In the hopes of creating a horrible zombie,

So that he and his horrible zombie dog,

Could go searching for victims in the London fog.

His thoughts though aren't only of ghoulish crime,

He likes to paint and read to pass some of the time.

While other kids read books like "Go Jane Go",

Vincent's favorite author is Edger Allen Poe.

One night while reading a gruesome tale,

He read a passage that made him turn pale.

Such horrible news he could not survive,

For his beautiful wife had been buried alive.

He dug out her coffin to make sure she was dead,

Unaware that her grave was his mothers flower bed.

She sent Vincent off to his room,

He knew he'd been banished to the tower of doom,

Where he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life

Alone with a portrait of his beautiful wife.

While alone and insane, encased in his tomb

Vincent's mother burst suddenly into the room.

She said, "If you'd like to you can go outside and play,

It's sunny outside and a beautiful day."

Vincent tried to talk but he just couldn't speak,

The years of isolation had made him quite weak.

So he took out some paper and scrawled with a pen,

"I am possessed by this house and can never leave it again."

Vincent's mother said, "You're not possessed and you're not almost dead,

These games that you play are all in your head.

You're not Vincent Price, you're Vincent Malloy,

You're not tormented or insane, you're just a young boy,

You're 7 years old and you are my son;

Now I want you to get outside and have some real fun."

Her anger now spent she walked out through the hall,

And as Vincent backed slowly against the wall

The room started to sway.

To shiver and creek,

His horrid insanity had reached its peek!

He saw Abercrombie his zombie slave,

And he heard his wife call from beyond the grave.

She spoke from her coffin and made ghoulish demands

While through cracking walls reached skeleton hands.

Every horror in his life that had crept through his dreams

Swept his mad laughter to terrible screams!

To escape the badness he reached for the door,

But fell limp and lifeless down on the floor.

His voice was soft and very slow

as he quoted, "The Raven", from Edger Allen Poe:

"And my voice from throughout that shadow

that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted,

Nevermore."

By Tim Burton