Death Herself

She comes forth

through the darkness,

 

ringlets bouncing

with her steps,

hips shifting

with her weight.

 

I find myself staring

and cannot stop.

 

Chocolate eyes bore

into my soul,

luscious and intense,

the eyes of a predator

but also

 

a mother.

 

Lips, lush and full

curve in a sly smile

as she feels my gaze.

 

“My child,

what do you see?”

 

Her voice like a river,

constantly moving and shifting,

depicting deserts, mountains, waves,

full of life inanimate, and also

Something else.

 

Something like the caw of a raven,

or a child’s last breath;

Something seen and unseen;

Something smooth and rich and

knowing.

 

Her words piercing and unnerving,

thoughts I can almost hear

lurking beneath the surface:

 

she knew me,

I could tell,

and she had known me

since before I had known

myself.

 

“I see a woman,

a beautiful woman,

a mystery. She is

old, older than time,

but young as the spring.

 

“She watched my life begin,

brought into the world

in a rush of pleasure,

 

“and has seen my life end,

an empty bottle cast aside,

pills emptied

as I waited.”

 

My eyes close for a second,

and then they open. They’re strong,

bolder than before.

 

“I’m ready.”

   

I'm looking for any and all feedback :) The poem was based off https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/55gme5/wp_while_walking_you_notice_everyone_recoiling/

 

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/560wxo/death_is_a_door/

2. https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/55zgjj/how_i_feel_when_i_wake_up/