Fear had thrown down its gauntlet
And I fled like a child chidden
Before I even registered the descent of mercury in its vial
Night had chilled the last lingering heat of summer sun
And my thumping heart was no drum in life's parade
Only the thrum of the living in a funeral, unwelcome on the silent stage
Pursuit crawled in shadows and writhed in the hollow halls of sewers and tunnels underfoot
Creaks of rabid rodents' feet trespassing on rotting wood and in shards of shattered glass
Those tiptoeing fiends kept dawn away
Prayers were fumbled, foiled by the trail of sweat that
Anchored me to the earth,
That chained me to the haunter at my back,
But let me loose on my shortening leash
The ghost, the great indignity of phantom pain,
Ever reaching with spectral limbs,
Clutching fingers, clicking bones unsheathed in mortal skin
My gawkish gaze with steel eyes met, a lover in the dark
A scornful friend with a blade buried in twitching hands
Bewitched with hatred and infatuation
Bitter blood burned in my throat
And my tongue throbbed in retort to my attack
I felt for the embrace of cooled breath at my neck
The taste of dead lips in a passionless kiss
I didn't turn to face fear
I didn't turn to face temptation
I could only run
My worth rested on escape
