The Hunt

The trees sang off their heads, jaws hit the floor
Up above 2 thousand prongs begging for more
The glen sits as still as their song
I swear they get closer to me, stakes
So many hands, out, reaching to take
Rupturing, but can’t feel nothing at all

I couldn’t help but stare at wooden fish scales
Edges like razor blades, they could cut a man
You can hear the wails by just looking at them
Dead as the gale freezes the frail
If it wasn’t for this anxious running I would be so damn cold

There were so many of them surrounding, aging with self-abuse
I just wanted a bit of rest, my feet flesh was flaying from the toe
But I should know, it never rests,
If I fell here, for this knave, there would be no going back home

I ran senseless, swinging my head around, eye’s twitching
Hoping to see the teeth gleam of the predator who hunts me
Wishing to light fire to all this coal,
Such a fool though, people don’t see smoke signals at night even in shoals
I wouldn’t want to see what cruel thing was coming for me anyway

I wonder what it knows
How I only feel a burn
About the neverending pain in my left leg
The secret things I have padlocked in my shed
What about right now, fucking weeping with nowhere to go
A coddled broken man, yet still somehow I stand

It never rests, even in the dead of night
Matter of fact it wears all that black
No wonder it has me lost,
It won’t let me rest, I just want to rest
My head buzzes and pounds
If I kept begging for more, what would it cost?
But if I fell here, just lay and rest
There would be more for this scoundrel
I would also have sung all my song

But even my fear couldn’t conquer my skinny fucking frame,
Which could do no more
Tired fucking limbs, hands beside limp
Such a disgusting thing, as I sweated out my soul
Pale lamb but black as the raven who calls my being
I collapsed in a heap of exhaust
I got down on my knees
And I screamed, “goddamn
Not another day on this goddamn trail
Put me out, bring me down to where I belong
Right off the ledge for the fall”

All I could hear were the echoes of my screams
And I could already see the fields of fire
Flames fifteen feet tall
And for a second, out of fear, I begin to crawl
Dirt digging into my fingernails as I heard something from behind call

I guess it knows my name…