I see it standing there
at the
bottom
of my life
like a
snarling wolf
at the
base of a ladder
This amorphous shadow,
Shifting, shining stars
contained in
incorporeal limbs.
I remember when
they reached for me
and held me close,
One hand on my eyes,
the other on my throat
so I would not see it
was killing me,
as it sang
death’s lullaby
so sweetly
in my ear
so I couldn’t feel
my life ebbing.
But I grew too heavy
with sorrow
to carry,
and it set me down.
Gorged on my misery,
it could not pursue.
And when I returned
to the sunlight
it fled.
I remember it,
not fondly.
And these days,
not long.
But I can still
feel its eyes
boring into me,
And it waits,
black and coiled
round the cold scraps
of what it once prized.
Wanting me back
even as it moves on
to claim
new souls
to suck.
