Sharps spike my brain
With their taunting technique.
I can feel my lungs
Expel air as my fingers
Move in a movement

As crisp as winter rain.
I surface for my next bubble
Of air while my lips continue
Their evanescent struggle so as not to

Bend to the will of the score
During which I engrave my
Heart upon each note
To convey elation. The

Elation I feel as I let the piece
Ravage my brain and leave my
Lungs barren. It’s in my
Brain, my blood and hopefully, now
In you.

Spindly supports elevate
Its be speckled body while thread
Outpours from the spiders portly
Frame. Swarms of prey

Bolt as the spider moves
Lethargically, still full from
Its earlier meal.
Thread ensnares the

Frangible flies in their
Cowering conglomeration.
One by one they are
Picked like daisies

On a school field,
Leaving the spider to sit
Back, content with his
Play for the day.

Now I can only gaze up
Toward the pedestal
Where I once resided,

As I lay on the floor broken,
Bruised and utterly raw.
No more pretences and

Performances to hide behind
And to act out with the grace
Of a Shakespearean actor.

My body curls like a wounded
Animal trying to preserve
Dignity while my sins march

Around me  in a death parade.
The drums ricochet through
My skull and the footsteps

Echo through the lonely halls
Of my mind where the memory
Of him burns and scorches because

That’s all they were to me.
A flickering flame that I tried to use
To heat my chilled heart.

Cold, smooth and gleaming.
Your body jests me with
My own reflection. Each
Key and note releasing your
Voice and song till you speak
Louder than any human.

Aged worn lacquer glimmers
In mirth as notes as deep as
The everlasting ocean
Are released to waltz upon
The air and embrace my ears

With its melodic magnetism.
Fingers on valves moving
As if all the time in the world
Were allotted to this one
Tune. Each note clinging to
The ear and whispering

Sweet nothings. Light seems
To emanate from the bell
As the melody draws itself to
Its grand finale. Each note
Punctuated till…..

Gasping. You lay there
Gasping before me. Each
Breath strained like the
Earth was laying on your chest.

Unfocused eyes glazed across me
Looking at me like I was a stranger.
Each blank glance causing a crack
In my glass heart.

Words circle me like a predator.
Cancer, terminal, stopping treatment.
These words wrap around my throat
As they close in for the ****.

I start to gasp as my world fades and dims
Till only the tiniest drafts of light
Invade my sight. The words tighten
And I know in my heart, they’ve won.

Hands as delicate as a porcelain doll
Coated in a pungent perfume of blood,
Reminiscent of the overbearing cologne
That graces his person.

Pigments, as vibrant as a wild peacock,
Coat his clothing in a skirmish of colours,
Each one more garish than the last.
A false harmony.

Eyes the colour of a Sweet Osmanthus
That, over time, has been left in the sun,
To wither along with the humanity
Behind the eerie eyes that are

Constantly leering at the world,
Hiding under a veil of sweetness
That’s as sugary as syrup, waiting
Till his prey returns.