A Serpent Ate My Guilt

By Ophelia Clairy

The boa wraps tightly around my throat
And I gasp dryly for air
As it strangles me with actions I regret

Panic sets in as it slides
Up my neck
And forces it’s way through my tight lips
It’s girth too wide for my mouth

My mandible gives a sickening crack
Unhinging my jaw
Slithering slowly through my air ways
And I gag on the ghosts of relationships past

Tears pour down my pale cheeks
Now drained
As It makes it ways to my lungs
Its icy body suffocating them with words I wish I

never said


Its scales scrape against my heart

Bursting all four chambers

And filling them with angry moments

That changed everything I had


Till it drops to the pit of my stomach

It’s body heavy and cold

Like these burdens I carry


I fall to my knees and try to scream

But I can’t,

Because the snake, still lodged in my throat,

Has damaged everything


leaving me isolated and shivering

With my guilty blood on my hands

Pooling all over the white tile

For someone else to clean


and I don’t think there will ever be enough sorries

To get rid of this wretched serpent

and finally

Finally

Relieve me

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