- © -Joe Jesseph

October 23, 1993

In the flesh,

Surrounded by others in the flesh,

Who seek shreds of my flesh;

Crawling, clawing predators,

Sucking worms,

Parasites who would burrow into

Veins and marrow,

Draining my blood,

Consuming my life,

So they think.

Dreams of cannibals,

Gore bespattered jowls

Spitting chunks of human cartilage

Into the fire;

Eyeing one another with hunger and lust:

These are my brothers and sisters.

The body's eyes see them not as kin,

But enemy,

And my heart is full of fear,

And hate,

Not love.

I believe,

But I do not know,

That my life

On this savage earth

Is a dream.

I believe,

But I do not know,

That beyond the vicious lives

Of human flesh

There is an overarching love;

Not the love the world names

(Which is only blood-sucking in disguise)

But a love which is not

Of the human brain;

That the senses cannot apprehend.

I believe,

But I do not know,

That my heart

Could be rinsed clean of hate and fear;

That it could be filled

With love

Which radiates from the truth

Beyond this terrible dream;

And that

In this nightmare world

My flesh could serve that love

Without any sense of sacrifice,

Or pain,

Or loss.

So I believe,

But I do not

Know.

[Previous] [Next] [Poems/Writing] [Home] [Submit Your Poem]