fortunately
I have a cage within
to house the
livid beast
who lives
jammed into
the cavity of my chest
a beast that longs to breathe free air
and eat the woman he first meets out there
any woman
he does not care who
just a woman with meat on bones
a covering of fat
with chewable hair
fortunately
for that woman
I keep the beast
well hidden
under lock and key
she would not know
that she was the feast
and all she might see
would be a glimpse
of shining claw
a rattle of scaly tail
a slip of sinew
a blood-drop of spittle
she might
smell the musky scent
and taste
the odour on the breeze as I
walk past –
soothing the beast inside
with a soft growling purr
at which I know he calms
she may feel
a tension in the air
as I smile
with these grey bright eyes
at her as she passes by –
then when she has passed
I turn to show my beast
the curve of her buttock
the shapely calf
Beast claws at my cage ribs
but will not escape
and though she may contemplate
her feeling
of disturbance
the scintillation of her blood
the prickle of acrid sweat
in the pit
next her breast
the dewing of her cleavage
she will not be able
to identify the cause
as if a spirit
has shivered into her
on the mystic breeze
blown from
some aromatic desert
of heat and arid dust
of dates and sandy lust
I am
the cause
I am
that spirit
I am
the heat
the beast
the thrust
that dwells
within
I am
the beast
that seeks her flesh
and her soul
and her spirit
feed me
now
as night falls
and before I corrode myself
from within
