The First Taste

The mother spoke your name across her lips
And kissed the children on the forehead
She turned down the lamps and closed the door
You came out from the closet

We had seen you once before
Projected monstrous onto movie screens
Stalking outside under window panes
we understood you made your living

Oh-oh-oh where do you come from?
Oh-oh-oh where do you go?

And at the bottom of the staircase
Hiding quiet under basement noise
You kept ready all your ropes and twine
Tasting for my ankles

Oh-oh-oh where do you come from?
Oh-oh-oh where do you go?

Dawn came slow
We awoke
with your fingertips
On our eyelids

I am older and awake again
In the hours before morning
I have learned you are a formless thing
Undeserving of our fearing

Still my skin
Speaks your name
It’s hard to take
Away the first taste