Past Lives

from “Werewolves and Other Monsters”

By Della Vance Greenawalt

  

Don't think I don't know that you could kill me, I saw you try. 
I know you could. I remember how your hands felt  
Around my neck, the necklace you gave me  
Of bruises. Don't tell me you are cured  
All these years later, I know better. 
I was there at counseling when you blamed me, your parents, the world  
For your imagined mistreatment, your bad behavior. 
By circumstance?  
By birth?  
We both know your parents your environment your frustration my helplessness  
Are not to blame,  
We both know you were not damaged in your youth,  
That your unnaturalness is all you know.  
That you have always been  
Evil, from the womb or before.  
You have hidden your ugly secret by being 
A pillar in church, at work, around everyone
Except us, your family.  
There is no way to hide 
Your real self.  
No way to come clean when you are 
Dirty. 
How you must hate seeing me  
Alive doing thriving 
After I have seen your inner self, 
Your missing soul, your nothingness 
Your ink black howl, hidden deep,  
It comes out and terrorizes  
You, me, anyone who looks into your feral eyes.  
Now I understand their pale green-yellow color,
And how they change to black to match your 
Rage.
Don't tell me you are tamed civilized cured.  
Don't tell me the arrest the probation the counseling took.  
Don't explain away your history 
Of strangling the women in your life, 
The women you wanted to kill, 
Beginning with me.  
They know 
I know  
You 
And your vile, barely masked madness that will 
Master you
One day 
And there will be no survivor left to write of it.  

11/2001

Published by

dellagreenawalt

Travel, writing, family as well as dogs cats & horses (oh my!) take up my time. I take classes constantly, write screenplays, fiction, non-fiction and grocery lists (I am especially proud of the grocery lists,) and lean toward humor and writing about the SouthWest. I admit I am a War/Military movie fanatic as well as a History fanatic - especially European history in the time of King Alfred the Great and before. The small kingdoms that existed before England fascinate me, but any history anywhere is bound to capture my interest. I have far too many books. And shoes. And dogs from the Animal Shelter where I am lucky enough to volunteer. Life is an amazing journey and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

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