The Serpent

The earliest I can recall us,

Though it was not the first time,

Rome took its great fall.

Whilst our former neighbors,

How beautiful and kind they were,

Let themselves be purged,

We let ourselves run free.

We reside beside the lake,

Where spiders and scorpions

And snakes scurry loose,

And we smile and laugh,

Pretending to forget death

And his hand looming over us.

We thought it would be the plague,

But it was the serpent.

We met again in the pirate ship,

Searching for treasure, even though,

We knew well it was right beside us.

I remember that day vividly,

Holding your beautiful frail body

Oh so close to mine.

As blood poured from our wounds

And united at last.

I thought we were safe in Salem,

Only women did witchery, after all.

But all it took was a knock and

We knew it was time again.

This one was the worst of all,

And not from the slow flames

Eating my ephemeral body alive,

But because I was tied far from you.

Time and time again,

We loved together,

Breathed together,

And fell together.

This time, I’m the hitman,

Tasked to murder the wealthy you.

“Let him die at your hands.”

The gods whispered to me,

“And you will be free.”

And alas, I learned nothing at all,

Because I still loved you,

Far more than even the gods.

And as we prepared to fall again,

I held your hand and wished.

Wished that in the next life,

We could be the serpents.