Correct, the SL protagonist doesn't see God, or Death. He sees Melinda.
Anyway... here's my analysis of MAYH, written a while ago, because I'm awesome like that.
PROLOGUE
A morning in magenta, the petals fed from the dew
She held her breath for a moment, to pause off the stream
Still clinging to vast, old memories
And I would marvel at her beauty, playing through the rain
(From amidst the shadows, the central figure watches a girl walking in the rain by a the banks of a forest stream. He quietly marvels at her beauty.)
The coffin is beautifully engraved
Stained by soil, symbols of death
All of which are stared upon, with porcelain eyes it seems
(Starkly, the lead character remembers lying within a coffin, his eyes glassy. It is now evident that he is dead.)
Some spoke, and it was my turn to go
In death entwined, I could not believe
But it hangs around my neck
(Having heard the sounds of his own funeral, the ghost left his body: almost, but not quite, in disbelief at his fate.)
A soft breeze passed me by, somewhat warmer for a second
I knew it was the coming of spring, and thus our April ethereal
(Remembering, here by the bank of the river where he watches the girl, he muses on the coming of spring.)
APRIL ETHEREAL
It was me, peering through the looking-glass
Beyond the embrace of Christ
Like the secret face within the tapestry
Like a bird of prey over the crest
And she was swathed in sorrow
As if born within its mask
(The ghost, invisible and unseen, quietly observes the sorrowful girl sitting in front of a mirror. An icon of Christ on the cross hangs on the wall, and the scene is lit by candlelight.)
Her candlelight snuffed, the icon smiled
Emptiness followed by her wake
I could clasp her in undying love
Within ghost-like rapture the final word was mine
She faced me in awe
(As the girl rises to leave, putting out the candle flame, the ghost reaches longingly for her and in a shocking moment she sees him.)
‘Twas a token of ebony color
Embodied in faint vapor
Wandering through April's fire
Compelled to grasp and to hold the one that was you
(The ghost, appearing as a faint white shape, pines for the girl in vain, for she is his widow and he is her dead beloved.)
I will endure, hide away
I would outrun the scythe, glaring with failure
It is a mere destiny, I thought
A threshold I had crossed before
(Not strong enough to sustain his visible form for too long, the ghost retreats, lingering unseen in the nearby woods.)
The rain was waving goodbye, and when the night came
The forest folded its branches around me
Something passed by, and I went into a dream
She laughing and weeping at once:
"Take me away."
I don't know how or why
And I'll never know when
(Finding himself in the wilderness, the dead man is presented with the unhappy memory of his widow, mad with grief, begging him to take her away with him. The ghost reflects that he is unaware of how to resolve their common misery.)
WHEN
Red sun rising somewhere through the dense fog
The portrait of the jaded dawn who had seen it all before
This day wept on my shoulders, still the same as yesterday
This path seems endless, body is numb, the soul has lost its flame
(The ghost notices that his constant consciousness and fatigued awareness makes the days bleed into one another.)
Walking in familiar traces to find my way back home
So there I was
Within the sobriety of the immortals
A semblance of supernatural winds passing through
The garden sighs, flowers die
(He returns to his old abode to see his widow once more, and enters the garden as a cold mist, his presence causing flowers to wilt as he passes.)
The gate was closed that day
But I was bound to carry on
She could not see me through the windows
In dismay, strangest twist upon her lips
(In the garden he pauses to admire his widow through the windows, and notes an odd expression on her face.)
Graven face, she said my name
(She seems to be speaking to him, perhaps apologizing for something…
Once inside
I heard whispers in the parlor
The gilded faces grin
Aware of my final demise
And I cried
I knew she had lied
Her obsession had died
It had died
(Inside, he hears the whispered sounds of prayer. Only then does he realize that, to his anger, his beloved has stopped grieving for him and has instead turned to religion for consolation.)
When can I take you from this place?
When is the word but a sigh?
When is death our lone beholder?
When do we walk the final steps?
When can we scream instead of whisper?
When is the new beginning, and the end of this sad madrigal
(In a rage, he curses the patience of his plan - to wait until they can be together upon her death.)
MADRIGAL
Our abode amongst the stars is waiting,
Long enough for our last breath of life
You stare at nothing, right through me
At times resembling the Devil's concubine
(As he silently watches his widow, the ghost dreams of their reunion in the afterlife.)
And me, I am the idol that would long to caress your eyes
Until they would open no more
I would comfort you if I only could, but as we all know by now
I am just thin air
(He would comfort her if only he could, but as he now accepts, he is but a phantom. )
Unaware as you are of my presence
You are losing yourself
Hiding within the amen corner
(Thus she is seeking solace inside the chapel instead of in her memories of him.)
THE AMEN CORNER
White summer
So far I have gone to see you again
Hiding your face in the palm of your hands
Finding solace in the words I do despise
(As the seasons move on into summer, the ghost returns to see his widow still resorting to prayer and the church to relieve her grief instead of holding onto her love for him.)
You snatch at every sound
And even though you believe
That I am shackled within death
Memories are tainted with paleness
Crestfallen still
Those eyes, empty, like a barren well
(Although his widow still remembers seeing the pale apparition of his form, she has convinced herself that it was a dream and that his spirit has moved on.)
It was the only task I would undertake
To reap the harvest that was mine
The seed that had sprung into a florid meadow
And left me helpless in your embrace
The bond we never spoke of
Once stark and enticing, now slowly smoldering to dust
The celestial touch
From grey to black
A fathomless void enclosing
Unwritten secrets beneath the cobwebs, I can not endure
(The ghost resolves to bring her into the afterworld with him, as soon as possible, as the longer he leaves her, the more of a chance that she will get over her grief.)
And so I rose from my sleep
The moon turned away its face
Overture of the long, black night begins, something you said
"Eerie circles upon the waters"
(Determined, the ghost leaves his grave once more. He does not know exactly what he will do, but he may be driven to violence if it will bring his beloved to him.)
Until now we have shared the same aura
My ashes within your hands
My breath in the sepulchral mound
You know that your night is my day
The final spark that blew life into me
The demon of the fall
(He reflects that until this point, he had been a shadow following his widow day by day. However, he now has a purpose and is going to take control.)
DEMON OF THE FALL
Flaming dance with death
Everything is lost
Torn by the arrival of autumn
The blink of an eye
You know it's me
You keep the dagger close at hand
(The ghost arrives at the chapel, burning with hatred. The widow senses that there is a supernatural presence, and wields a dagger in defense.)
And you saw nothing
False love turned to pure hate
The wind cried a lamentation
Before merging with the grey
Demon, demon of the fall
(In the darkened chapel, the girl listens to the howling wind and curses the ghost, believing him a demon as accords to her new-found faith.)
Gasping for another breath, she rose, screaming at closed doors
Seductive faint mist forging through the cracks in the wall
I shan’t resist, in tears for all of eternity
She turned around and faced me for the first time
Run away, run away, run away.
(Sensing his presence once more, she leaps to her feet and shrieks as his misty form appears through the wall behind her. He reaches out to her and she turns, seeing him clearly. Despite realizing his identity, she flees in terror.)
Just one second, and I was left with nothing
Her fragrance still pulsating through damn air
That day came to an end
And she had lost, in me, her credence
(Heartbroken and utterly dejected, the ghost realizes that she no longer mourns but fears him.)
CREDENCE
Deserted again
You speak to me through the shadows
Walking in closed rooms
Using cold words
Captured by the night
The yearning escapes from my embrace
(The plan of the ghost has apparently failed; his widow is refusing to join him in death, and is rather coldly demanding that he leave her in peace.)
Strange silhouettes
Whisper your thoughts
Scream your sadness
And they all turned away
Unable to face
More of this death
(The ghost is shocked by her wild, frightened mood. He eventually understands that she is unable to accept her own inevitable death, hence her turn to religion.)
Credence in my word
Written in dust
Tainted by memories
I confess my hope
Recognize
My loneliness
(Disappointed, he speaks to his widow of his dream that they would be re-united for eternity. He accepts that this is as much because of his love for her as it is because of his desperate loneliness.)
Your laughter weeps the truth
Push me into the corner
Confirming the epitaph of my soul
And displaying
The once unknown
Karma
(Mad with fright, the girl laughs at his hopes, belittling him and confirming that their love has finally died.)
KARMA
And as they say, grief is only able to possess
The rotting body clad in ancient clothes
Is left behind with a wave of the hand
(Accepting his eternal fate, the ghost has left his grave for the last time and drifted out into the natural world.)
I have gone away
The bed is cold and empty
Trees bend their boughs toward the earth
And night-time birds float as black faces
(He can no longer be found in the home he and his widow lived in, and neither can she, for she has left that place in fear for her life.)
It was the hand reaching out
Through the mirror
Unknown and scarred by life
The luring eyes, you had never seen
(The final sight that caused him to leave was the sight of his own spectre in his widow’s mirror – half-mad with longing, appearing as a stranger even in his own eyes.)
You have nothing more to find
You have nothing more to lose
(He realizes he has lost everything he had and that it can get no better and no worse.)
The cold season
Drifts over the land
They huddle in the brown corners
Some would settle for less
The castles were all empty, asleep
Long awaiting their king
Beckoning round the bend
Amidst the forest
One would hear that I had been there
Draped within a fate I could not change
And always welcoming winter's epilogue
(Now it is winter the people of the land huddle together for warmth, telling stories of fantastic and strange events. The ghost has found his way into these myths and legends as a tragic story to be told for generations to come.)
EPILOGUE
There it was, the final destiny
A sunrise that never came, still the night lamp that never faded away
Farewell was the word, and the afterglow was the brave morning
Rising and telling everyone about the beauty of its prologue
(The ghost’s destiny is to remain in the woods forever. He accepts this, bidding his widow a silent farewell and disappearing into the bright morning, alone, but finally free of his emotional burden.)
There we go. Only Mike himself could convince me otherwise...
