I am here. I am everywhere.
Every place you’ve been I’ve waited.
Every face you’ve seen I have worn.
I have not one name but thousands.
I come on the wings of an epidemic of a massacre.
A lone scream in the night, announced by the distant thunder of a war, of the bleat of the slaughtered calf.
I visit the dying in their burning skin.
Devour the bodies of the sick.
I crush the hearts of the hopeful as I dance on the backs of the weak.
Your greatest fears are my delight, with your cries you invite me in.
I am the betrayal you could not have seen.
The killer you thought you knew.
One day I will be your mother or your father or your friend.
Another day I will be your neighbour, or perhaps I’ll work through you.
There are monsters hiding in your closet, there are ghosts beneath your bed.
The dream you feared was real, was real.
These are gifts to you from me.
I love you, in my little way.
With your suffering I am alive, can’t you hear the music on the wind?
Don’t you recognize the tune?
Is it you my friend, your struggling?
Your spirit torn limb from limb?
But I am not death. Death is your deliverer.
Death looks to me with sorrow in his eyes and asks, “Why must you do this?”
My answer remains unchanged.
I do what you cannot.
No end is swift under my watch.
Mercy is a mistake I correct.
I am peace destroyed and eyes forced open, the ragged ring around your neck.
I am your secret wish for others, I am the secret wish for you.
I have not one name but thousands.
But you…you may call me AGONY.
And I am pleased to make your acquaintance.

AGONY
By Katy Towell