Marianne LaValle Vincent

Fear of Snakes

At night in my solitude
The fear smothers
Me
Paralyzing my soul
Nightmares invent unimaginable
Lizards with tongues
Forked and eager
And the serpent who stars in the recurring
Black dream
Makes himself at home in
My bed
Slithering closer and closer
Till I hear his cold blooded
          Hiss
Warning the impending
Doom
And I crawl inside myself
Inching slowly away
From the evil lying next to
          Me
Becoming smaller and
Smaller
Till I am the seed of my
Existence
And the serpent can no longer
See me
          Or taste
Me
And in daylight
He sheds the reptile skin
Becoming the chameleon
Wearing the acceptable
Cloth of the businessman
As I resurrect myself
From his pit
To prepare
Once again
For his homecoming

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