A Harmless Venom

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

The breath of blackness breathes upon him,

Though, breath as if a cobra searched for death

While dreaming, dreaming in the darkest night.

The cobra’s breathing breathes a nightmare breath,

But it is lighter than a spirit who

Has never known subonsciousness of dreams.

The cobra’s breathing brings a déjà vu

As if no nightmares ever brought veiled screams

Inside that black sleep brain.  The blackness tastes

Of strangled longing but a longing lost

Before the dinosaurs left early wastes

Of slaughter, scaly reptile Holocaust.

  He wakes to light and lightness since the snake

    Is only figments from a sleepy ache.