I Have Crept

©Copyright 2001 by Gary Lee Joyner

I have crept in the bushes around your encampment
Scheming
To see an opening in your circle
To warm myself by your fire
To lie in your bed
To have my eyelids kissed
To be believed

I courted your daughter
Influenced your son
Poisoned your dog
Tended your garden
Seizing my opportunity
I cut your phone lines

I walked your streets at November dusk
Finding peace in your yellow window light
Reflecting your comfort
Eyeing your locked door
I guessed your patterns
Creating your existence

I filtered your water
Drank from your stones
Tore pages from your books
Wrote in the margins
I instructed your children
And papered their cages
I desecrated your libraries
Prayed in your classrooms

I fought wars you ignored
Dug trenches
Nursed the wounded
And sang for the dead

I nodded to your beloved
My hands in my pockets
As I slouched past the doorway
Where she invented her secrets

I sacrificed virgins
And went through their possessions
I visited widows
Wept over their souls

I wore your clothing
Taunted your idols
I drank your wine

I'm not quite finished...