Unwelcome shadow…

 

 

 

How strange to awaken and find
Envy

Sharing my bed. I’m astonished at his appearance.

Had I known him before? No I

Would have blithely sworn

From skin to teeth that

His obsidian claws, as natural as a scalpel

Would never find me, reach my heart, draw blood.

I am simply me. Others themselves. Where is there a place for him in this?

But here the stranger is, hot-faced and grinning, intimate

As my pillow. How could I not have heard him

Coming, felt that anvil breath, fought him through the door and sucked his poison out from where

It hollowed my heart and clouded my eyes, souring any blossom that might have been sweet?

I say, I insist. I never knew him he was never there and yet this shame will not lie for me. You saw

Him, it says pointing. You just

Did not say his name. For fear that name was weakness?

Am I so caught on comparison, fallen into high school ignorance and preening cleverness?

More prayer. Little i and large thou or suffer all the bliss of blindness, damn fool or

Sacred jester.

The bells and hat mark the station yet nothing matters except being

Close to the table of the king.