(grendel)
there is a monster that lives in my bones
it has sharp claws, deep roots,
black-hearted and empty-stomached
it sucks at my marrow slowly slowly
its roots are not contained: they spread
from blood to bone to muscle, infecting
infesting every part of my body
its claws grasp my heart carefully carefully
the sharp talons puncture and blood spills
but the blood is not hot-red life river-flow
blood oozes, slips muddily from veins
wrapped in ruddy-wrong roots tightly tightly
its roots wrap round my arms and
its savagery wraps round my mind
it laughs and i laugh and our claws grasp at
our heart only so tenderly tenderly
wrong blood, wrong mind, wrong heart all
rotting and shrivelling as the roots
deep roots strong roots eat me
slurps up our life greedily greedily