soft piano arpeggio, dancing violins

only a note
single,
resonant.

I stood
in a clearance,
wide-open woodlessness
with the wind
cold,
insistent
at my curved back.

there --
lupus eyes
frozen in the dark slivers
between gnarled wood;
when I turn
they'll get me
swifter than
those fighting
whispers
along the stone
and dirt.

claws in my chest
teeth at at my neck
growl in my throat
scream between my teeth
and slipping on my tongue,
dripping out
.
.
.

who knew blood
could be this slick
and gushingly gone?

I didn't know
I had this starved gurgle
in me;

I didn't know
I could be so viciously
consumed --

and in knowing, 
I do not
want
to
wake.