animal
blundered
into a trap
pleading for time
begging for favours
counting the cost
feet beaten
hands shackled
cell stenched
with piss and shit
soul corroded
with
licensed hidden violence
contracted
sudden and unexpectedly
nasty and brutish
here
is a grasping demon
with huge claws
savage and scaly
suspicious
autistic gargoyle
that holds
and lays claim
erupts
crazily
in volcanic
madness
gains ascendancy
seizes fast hold
grows from a little seed of truth
too faint for naked eye
a thicket
of triffid-like bizarreities
that feed
remorselessly
I have been
wrecked before
and this means
at last
to smash
my shell
to fragments
on black reefs
beyond
all hope
of salvage
or reprieve
25th December 1991