You have sucker punched me in the gut
and choked me with my own tears.
You have straddled my chest in the middle of the night
to squeeze the breath from my lungs.
You have dragged me to dark places,
to the dirt-rimmed lip of the grave,
forced my head down
and filled my eyes with
nothingness.

And still, you aren’t done.

Like Grendel’s mother,
you are raging toward me now. 
No one can stand watch with me.
Time is no ally.
I am defenseless
waiting for your wrath to return.