“But you just won’t die”, she told me

That’s because I died years ago

The year with no Summer

The year they began to

come for me

Mike

the engineer tried to

steer me to his lonely

house whose once-homeless

occupant conveniently disappeared to

make a little room for me

I slipped away

Next the viper who dared

me to bite her on the

night her finger poisoned

my friend

I slipped away

Into a lair with silk

string snare, vision

blurred until the

virus came

Everyone slipped away

Foolishly, empathy engaged

me to invite he, the

great deceiver, diligently

waiting at the door

Devilry I did not

see, delivered freely

in to seize his

mark

Then slip away

Dark night of

daggers

Parkland, staggered

Parched, bedraggled but

not dead

I fled

Slipping

away

No chance to

rebuild, sucked into

dancers’ guild, adopted

stance that almost killed…

Again I slipped away

Force-fed painkillers

Sprayed with LSD

Hospitals, caregivers

cannot catch what

they cannot see

“But you just won’t die”, she told me

She’ll try again someday

When Summer comes to find me

I’ll simply slip away