The Monster

A dark creature,
I keep it caged
in a high-walled roofless prison
and it seethes, aching to burn my flesh
as it has burned before,
bubbling round its shadowy fringe.
A thing of nature
bred by Man, taught its few arts
in the vast industrial shrines
that cultivate such terrors.
I like my monster
dark and unpolluted,
nor do I recoil
as it leaps from its cage
intent on my throat
merging with my body
scattering its shadow in every pore.
My heart drums faster,
full of its fear
or maybe just
its caffeine.