Number Six
You wonder why I sweat and why my brazen brow is wet?
Ask me why I sit in trembling fright, or why I’m shaking.
Going pale I sit still, while in my spine a feel a chill.
A sign of my shattered will-will I witness myself breaking?
Small hairs rise from my skin; I know that surely I’m breaking.
Surely yes but time it’s taking.
In this dim, smoke-filled room, I myself will seal my doom.
In the emergent crowd some will goad; others will cheer.
Their chants now fill the air; put on display I feel bare.
Exposed to those who stare-stare into their darkest fear.
Fortunate are they, for they will not know this fear.
All the while I sit here.
One attempt to get away merely caused a slight delay.
In a fruitless endeavor I tried to escape.
Calm as I prayed for luck, calm till I forgot to duck.
Driven back I’d been struck-struck by a man-shaped ape
The construct of a man, veiled the force of an ape,
Unrewarding was my jape.
Anxious, I am waiting, of the end I’m contemplating
Still, you wonder why I worry, why my brazen brow is wet?
Often I’ve lost my wager, this time to a grim stranger.
Playful is the stranger-stranger still was his bet.
To square obligation, my own blood, mine to bet
Deadly, Russian roulette.
Fatal as it always is, more so was this game of his.
There were bullets for five; one lives on as fate picks.
Six of us, one goes free, only one allowed to flee.
First man drew empty-empty, from the mix
My wait was the longest, the longest of the mix,
Because I’m number six. |
Submission Name: Number Six
