Your anger leaves a residue
in the starched, yellow room
a gluey film clinging to the walls
Cowering here, I cannot help but absorb it
the mind desires to cocoon itself
dread tunnels into the belly like a mole
clawed and fetid, flinging dirt and debris
Your raging, fist-pounding
slamming of doors
screams and fits of temper
are but the sobs of a child
yearning for mother comfort
I should recognize them
and have compassion
but unlike a child
you do not endear me
And so my arms lie limp and motionless
refusing to embrace you
How swiftly nascent joy
dissipates in clumps
like wet gauze
in your burning presence
I can only shrink and tremble
in your Godly, hot shadow
the useless rodent that I am
What beast vibrates with such furor?
even the lion, king of assassins, hunts coldly
with an inward focus
holds no contempt
for its prey
Your voice is crusted and jagged
rumbling rage courses in seismic waves
threatening to burst beyond borders of skin
taut and boiling
Your face, crumbling coal
explodes with savagery
scarring us with words, keen and barbed
lava vomits from your mouth
eyes, murderous crows, unflinching
It's the spark of sin
the seed of war
planted only in men
buried deeply in our soil
but in you, so near to the surface
Some things cannot be forgiven
It feeds and multiples itself in our bones
flecks of spite, fast-breeding children
consuming our benevolence
searing empathy in its flames
You set your life ablaze
immolate your own house
and stand
sobbing in its ashes
