The Little Snake

A few things about today’s poem. First, it’s back to that theme of bitterness, one of my pet sins. It was particularly bad back in November, during a very long cycle of stress. I don’t remember if this was after a particular incident, but it was from a Poem a Day Prompt and work was stressful enough at the time that it wasn’t hard to write…

…except for the experimentation with the rhyme scheme. Most of my sonnets are fairly Shakespearean… either ABAB CDCD EFEF GG or ABBA etc. This one is an intentional break: still rhyming pairs, but I mixed up the order for funsies. I’m fairly happy with the results, if not the emotions underneath the sonnet.

The Little Snake

Originally Written 11/14/19. #118.

A little snake lies coiled deep within,
Just waiting, hiding, thriving in the heat
Of my emotions. Patiently it waits,
And, feeding off both bitterness and hate,
In times of joy it stays in its retreat;
In times of sorrow, it tempts me to sin.

Its hunger feeds my own. It grows and grows
Until the snake has taken full control.
It strikes—I strike—from hunger and from pain,
With everything to lose, nothing to gain,
The snake takes a big mouthful from my soul—

But if I—should I—ever dare oppose
The snake, then it will slink away in fear—
But when the hunger comes, it will be here.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash