The Snake

 

Staring down the barrel

of another long, gone day,

sometimes I like

to just let the song play.

We were children

in the morning,

some died before the bell.

Some Heaven sent,

others claimed by Hell.

 

Possibility became a poison pill.

We took it to kill the pain,

we didn’t know that laying still

in the long grass

was the snake,

slit eyes,

forked tongue,

and venom

for our veins.

 

We were children in the morning,

but only some of us lived to evening.

“This is the way of the world.”

the snake explained.

“I come sliding in unnoticed.

Quietly I choose my prey.

One little bite is all it takes

to take you out,

to pull you from the game.”

 

I walk slowly, now,

when I walk outside these days.

Move as it there’s enemies

in shadowy stairways,

and snakes in the grass,

because I’ve seen,

the good,

the bad,

and some things in between.

 

 

HG – 2021