Time Unraveled

Time is a totalitarian dictator, 

Demanding absolute submission 

From its cowering subjects. 

Time is a possessive lover, 

Jealous and vindictive, 

Calculating your every move. 

Time is a parasite, a bulging 

Leech swallowing your youth,

Each mouthful salted with filth.

Time offers no mercy, no comfort

As it strips you to the core, ripping

Pages from your book of life. 

You can hide in the swirling shadows,

Hoping it does not see your trembling

Outline or smell the reek of your fear. 

 But in the end, it will find you, coming

To lay claim to your evanescent soul, 

Its light dim and dying, a flicker in the dark. 

When you feel its moist tongue licking

Down the column of your fragile neck

Do not scream, for only pain will remain. 

Audra Burwell