How many times I watched
you cast your spell, weaving
a web shimmering with desire.
Intriguing, inticing, seducing
until there was a step on the
silken thread of the net you cast.
Suddenly, you would pounce,
surrounding, overwhelming,
sucking your victim dry.

I protected myself by walling
off my heart, surrounded by a
deep moat of smoldering hate.
Avoiding your snare by hiding
in front of you under a sheath
of armor too thick to pierce
I saw you raise an axe to
shatter me but you never
brought down the blade.

When I saw your shrunken body
body helpless in the hospital bed
I couldn’t believe it was you.
Only after you were gone,
when I was safe from you,
did I see your loneliness,
your sorrow, your anguish
staining the walls that were
still moist with your tears.