Will You Still Love Me?
A poem
I have grown long in the tooth.
Hair sprouting
Everywhere.
I cannot get my meat rare enough.
I arise before dawn to go on the hunt.
Leave you in the den slumbering.
I smell my way home, blood on my hands.
Truck empty.
Stomach full.
Did I forget my gun?
Did I leave my kill in the forest?
I am a lifelong sleepwalker,
Assuring you it’s not odd
To find me curled up at the foot of your bed,
Sullied, bare feet,
Rouged lips,
Wine, I surmise.
You nod.
Love means believing one another’s lies.
It was only you, only ever you.
Your scent fills my nostrils.
I tracked you night after night.
I had eyes only for your tracks.
I want to hibernate with you.
And rise from the grave
Every spring.
We’d stay up all night with our friends
And howl at the same full moon.
You are my moon goddess.
When we were human, love meant never leaving.
Will you love me enough
To place silver bullet in chamber
And pull the trigger?
Or live your life as my master? Can you tame a monster?
What will the neighbors think about all their missing chickens?
Who will cut the grass and take out the trash?
Will I dwell in the woods outside our house, your mate for life?
If I am spotted, and I won’t be, but if I am,
Will fear cloud the fact
That I have a man’s eyes?
