You can feel Him behind you
a black cat stalking a lizard with no tail
He is careful.
You can feel Him waiting
until you've peeped over each bony shoulder
left, clear.
as you would to cross a busy road
right, clear.
He is smart, you know
when you have dropped your guard
you stand alone in piles of monochromatic laundry,
all black.
Sunlight creeps in through
your smoke-stained-yellow blinds
creating diagonal stripes across your collar
bones, you feel your chest rise and fall.
He plans his attack,
you're too busy counting,
one - two - three
beams of sunlight,
four - five - six
dust particles sparkling
within the thin strips of light
coming through your smoke-stained-yellow blinds.
He jumps
grabs at your ankles with icy fingers
you shiver.
He constricts – the hungry snake
He is
squeezing you – the rat for dinner
until you writhe no more
and then He creeps all the way,
squeezing hard around your slim waist,
holding down goose-bumped-arms,
sliding up to your throat
soon it’s only you.
You.
Your smoke-stained-yellow blinds.
And Silence Himself.
