All around me the room was glowing
an unnatural, orangish light.
It pulsed, or was it my heart
that skipped?
Him on top of me, wet as a beast
and ravening: this was not so much the terror.
Further: when I looked to where
his eyes once were, I saw coals smolder
and transform the face, the human face I knew
into the visage of my doom. My mind
slipped briefly from me; I'd seen him
at the window on chilly, nervous nights,
I'd dreamed him a thousand times.
The room grew colder and swirled
into a place out of this universe, and what
you've imagined about it is true:
the wretched trees writhed and groaned,
the hills sprung with snakes, and the stars
stabbed meanly with their hard looks.
How did I escape? I lay still and didn't let on.