I AM A DEBTOR

I’ve seen the rabbit

That large heavy breathing creature

Taller than you

longer than I

this beast is sick and the

inhales…

exhales…

are labored and slow.

The matted fur, a spoiled grey green

is shifting in jagged ups and downs.

I’ve seen the rabbit.

Those crimson wild knowing eyes

that never blink.

The stretching of the ears

A pulling tension that you can hear, that you can feel.

When pulling pullable things

like cheese

or teeth

Yes, now I know I’ve seen the rabbit.

I hear it under my mattress.

I know it’s a no longer

long time coming.

For it to wake,

push its tired paws,

lift its shaking haunches

out

over

and up

onto my bed

to my sleeping face

where it will wake me

with eyes unseeing

unto my own

sight

and

before the sun

can scream on my behalf

the rabbit

will push a

warm full hairy paw

into my opened mouth

and I will feel it’s thick pulse

on my young tongue

as it ever

so softly

chokes me.