Scorpions
and black widow spiders,
rattlers too,
lurking in dusty corners
these critters can kill-
but they do so quickly...
Whereas the workings
of the mind
can be more sinister,
slithering thoughts
of what could have been,
what was
and what is yet to come-
these work with their own venom,
slowly, maddening
thinking that's torturous.