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George Lewis Avery

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we all have our secrets

yes [by my troth]
i own a mistress
and nights
i steal from our bed
and join her
in a dimly lit antechamber
of my own design
you would not know of it for
secrecy is the sole key
what unlocks the heavy door
and she [my mistress]
shackled in chains

sinful
as guilty pleasures be
and turbulent [our affair]
but the key
i hide elsewhere
to keep it safe
and afterwards
i sleep feveredly
in the arms
of my devoted
[she] who d be the death of me
[she] who has tried

last night
shortly after i had slumbered
a weight fell on my chest
i was alarmed to find
i could not breathe
oxygen [the precious commodity]
was unattainable and
my lungs began to screeeeeam
my eyes darted
and there was [she]
laughing in my face
i could feel
a hand covering my mouth
[another] pinching my nose
shutting off the air
and she astraddle my chest
[her] whose knees were
holding my arms pinned
so i could not protest nor
grapple at the air to breeeeeathe it
was laughing heartily
she released my mouth momentarily
only to press her own against it
and kiss the very life from my lungs
till a darkness loomed
and shadows leapt before my eyes

at the final moment [mercifully]
she ended the kiss
and i felt her heated breath at my ear
"now you know how i feel" she whispered
and she playfully nipped my earlobe
before releasing me
[sloooowly] my tortured lungs
healed themselves
and i felt the pain of caesar
a hundred flaming daggers
piercing my torso
till i lay gasping
breathing deeply
as blood dribbled down my chin
from swollen lips [she had bitten]

yes [by my troth]
i own a mistress
and the time was
our trysts were confined
to late hours
and dim candlelight i was
[ashamed of our union]
so much so
i swore her to secrecy
i bade her wear chains [of fidelity]
i kept her locked away
in a room with no windows
and little air to breathe
[that has changed]
she has more freedom now
today we dined on the veranda
and this night [in my study]
as my pen scribes gainst yellowing parchment
i can hear her footfalls on the carpeted floor
i feel her arms wrapping around me from behind
and her teeth roughly drawing color from my ear
much later i will fall asleep in her embrace
while the candles light flickers and wanes
while my pen drops loosely from my fingers
and i will yet have fretful dreams
[true] she has her freedom
but what of me

i am TROLL [and she] is
... POETRY

.oeg ©