Embryo

There are other words for it:
succubus or incubus.  Take your choice,
as if you had any.
A vampire by any other name . . .
At night the winged fiend
settled its loving embrace.
With its fangs it dipped
into the blood to suck away a life
for its own ends.  Innocent?
Innocent as all things are which
preserve their own lives.
If a State can name it
a State can take its life.
That might be a rule.
Secular authority makes a State,
so watch out for that Church on the right.
It might reach out and grab you,
maybe not with the Laws of Life.
If you're going to  believe, don't
forget about the original sin.
Was it Dante who put the babies
crawling around in hell?
Or was it someone older?
Chance, you say, give them a chance.
The same chance they give me.
Their soul against mine, and
they've already got that so
they're fair game if I am.
Give up a piece of your soul;
a pound of flesh doesn't buy much.
It only takes, and takes, and takes.
Somewhere in the law there is
something about self-defense.
Nobody ever uses the right word.
As the nausea ends and the beast
is gone, then you can make peace
with yourself and anybody else you
choose.  No one is forcing you anymore.
No one is feeding off of you anymore.
Don't worry, the law will protect you.
After all, it puts women in prison
for killing the men that rape them.
Mary was about that lucky.



                  published in For the Love of Death, the early years, S.I.N., 1993.