By darkness I trolled
  in my oft-shedding skin

Hidden alleys I roamed
  for new victims at whim

But at last I must face
  the deception I’ve wrought

And repay every memory
  that festers and rots

As my twisted  rebellion
  turns its anger within

No forgive or forgetting
  or my blaming the gin

In the few moments left
  as I slither and weave

Still bearing false witness
  against those I’ve deceived

My venom gets swallowed
  death final and small

With the light I once blocked
  —casting shame on it all

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)