All walks cease their leisure Hanging over my head During the stroke of midnight that comes every hour Fluttering of wings, I know there are no angles hanging above Because I can feel the calculating glare, always Little beasts that join me across oceans Following me to places they do not belong They fall from the trees that always seem so barren to me Cawing, as if to inform me of their presence To warn me; they see all As though the devil himself is watching Perhaps it is he, in a thousand inky bodies. Ill fortune walks along-side me They are Death personified Surrounding me always Every glance over the shoulder Every paranoid peek out the curtain Imprisoned by this vast world Unable to run, unable to hide, unable to die Cursing me always Killing my loves, and the loves of theirs Silent, black-breastedย ย protectors