Exchange

Huddled figure held

A staring contest with the window.

Oily plaster walls, iron bars, and hostile rats:

A fate befitting me.

Fingers burned. Singed toes

Against the dirt floor show

My payment for the demon’s gift,

Trite immortality.

Darkness numbs my vision

As night begins its fall,

The illness of greed to blame for the bargain struck.

In a futile dream I lay

Curled safe inside the wall.

Claws scratch at the door...

Forbidden to die, I’m out of luck.