Beast

 

Ego sum bestiam.

I, I am the beast.

I am no one’s keeper.

 

I cared for naught a soul.

My life, my way, my rules,

My Hubris.

 

One woman, one moment,

One rejection, one rose.

Ingredients for the spell.

 

Spawn of my pride, my ignorance.

Born out of my selfishness

Was my sentence, my curse.

 

Enchantress, so calléd was she.

Evil, as was calléd by me,

He who was sought by Beauty.

 

Habiliments of velvet, silk,

Shredded, ravaged, and in rags,

An unrecognizable heap.

 

Pores prickling, fur forcing its way

Through to the surface of my skin,

Pulling in all directions.

 

My hands, alien appendages,

Growing more menacing.

My feet, rougher, with pads, like paws.

 

My nails torn from the bed by

The emerging hooked talons,

Deadly, morbid weapons of the beast.

 

Incisors and fangs extending,

Villainous reminder of the curse,

The curse I bore on myself.

 

My face, gone, a snout in its place.

My identity, gone, my fate sealed

As a monster for eternity.

 

Through my own fault, I sinned.

Therefore, only I can redeem myself,

And denote my punishment fulfilled.

 

A woman placed the enchantment.

Only a woman may reverse it.

And set me free.

 

A maiden, pure of heart and faithful,

Who can see the man within,

Ignore the beast without,

 

Love me in the face of my faults,

See only the good that I didn’t,

Teach me to forgive, to live again…