Becoming

The scene is
like a dream – surreal -
it's as if we are watching this happen
on a screen or
like one might watch a play
or some bizarre parade
celebrating death…
but everything is in slow motion.

The vampire approaches her victim.
No one seems to notice what is happening
but I know it's real.

Confronting her, I say,
“I will not allow this.”

She addresses me, saying,
“I can end your fears;
show you life
everlasting
and powers
you've always
hungered for.

I answer, "You are death."

"Drink my blood and become like me."

"You only offer me death."

"No," she answers, "Would you rather,
die than become?"
"If the priest says, 'Drink this blood,'
You Drink."

I answer, "The bread I eat is protection.
"The blood I drink is life."

"I will have you, willingly or not," she answers.

"And yet I live," I answer,
though still afraid.

“Only for now!
Only for a while.”

Bruce Whealton has been the co-editor and publisher of Word Salad Poetry Magazine since 1995 and their newest publication, Haiku Ramblings. They publish both on the web at WordSaladPoetryMagazine.com and in print. Bruce has a Bachelors Degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master's Degree in Social Work. He has been writing and studying poetry for many years with various mentors. His poetry has been published recently in The Horror Zine, and the associated Anthology called “And Now the Nightmare Begins: The Horror Zine. His poems have also appeared in “lines written w/a razor,” “Childe Bryde,” “lunatic chameleon,” “the thin edge of staring, “Chance Magazine,” Venus Rising, the Wilmington Star News' Port City Poets, and “Gravity Hill,” and “Simple Vows Anthology” which is put out by St. Andrews College Press.

Find more by Bruce Whealton in the Author Index.

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