The Beast

Written in 1978, applicable always

Did you see me running?
Rushing blindly
Down a dark endless
Alley.

I figured that running fast
I could elude
This desperate position
But...
Panting and breathless,
Dead in my tracks
I fling my bones down
Like a dog
At the end of its
Chain.

The image reflected
In the mirror so large
Is ugly, lean and dark.
The bloom of life
Left long ago.
Took someone else out
For lunch.

The beast in me
Has surfaced again
No longer the pet of the
House.
A lean hungry cat
That was young long ago
Now locked in a cage
Made of grass.