literature

On why I had to leave her.

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Literature Text

When I was young, we
kept a snake
three feet high, on my
brother's bookcase, and


When I was young, we kept
fat brown hamsters and
round white mice, sitting
two feet across and
three and a half high on my
brother's chesterdrawers


and every week we dropped
little white mice, and then
big white mice,
and bigger, and
pairs of round white mice,
down,
down,
down
into that old snake's home
three feet from the ground and
two and a half from the
feast of fur and flesh, of
fat brown hamsters and
round white mice, sitting
like ducks, like
vestal virgins, like
hapless prey behind
skinny, rusted little bars


and every week we dropped those
fat white mice in with that
old corn snake, he
latched on for dear life and
twisted his coils and
choked their screams and
swallowed them whole, and
every week he
must've looked up at that
feast of fur and flesh, of
fatter white mice and
succulent little hamsters and
waited, and
waited, and
waited


that
old corn snake spent
most of his days and
most of his nights in the
shadow of temptation, in
full view and full hear and full smell of
lust
gluttony
and probably a few other
sweet little sins
carefully girded and
just out of reach and
waited, and
waited, and
waited


and
after a while, that
old corn snake seemed to just
be tired of waiting
so
after a while, that
old corn snake stopped
paying any mind to mirages and
second-bests and
stabs in the dark and
weak little claws when they
crawled right over him and
teased and tempted and made
false promises
and that
old corn snake never
never
ate again, no matter
how many
fat little white mice fell
down,
down,
down
in front of his tongue and
down,
down,
down
onto his back and
down,
down,
down
between his coils, just
begging to be eaten


He must have been very hungry.
Written May 2004, revised 28 July 2004. The title (formerly: "Like that.") and last line (formerly: "I think it's like that.") have been changed; it was pointed out to me that the poem's having any metaphorical value was clear enough and that those were excessive. And I wrote it before I'd actually left, so that wouldn't have quite worked, then (I toyed with something about affections deferred or temptations restrained or both, but it came down to the same, I suppose). The snake and rodents were real, and were harmed in the making, poor souls.
© 2004 - 2024 BlindSwandive
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Pure-Dax's avatar
awesome deviation :o