by Alaina Hammond

I was in you from the very beginning, though it took me years to fully emerge. I let you have your childhood in relative health. I even let you have your daughter, sparing her in every sense. 

You staved me off as best you could, to starve me even as I starved you. You swallowed all pills your doctors prescribed, and watered yourself with rest. The surgeries, though painful, still extended your life many more years. How nobly you fought, these decades! What gift to see your 44th birthday, which you enjoyed from your hospice bed.   

It brought me no joy, to cause you to suffer. I’m not evil, it’s merely what I do. You named me Beast; how right you were! For beasts can be no other way.

The human man loved you and made you his bride. You were his, and yours, and never mine. I was but an unwelcome guest. Crashing in every sense.

The world misses you, but not more than I do. You have lost the world, and I have lost my hostess. I loved your body even as I ravaged it.

I’d ask your forgiveness, were there anyone nearby for me to ask. But you’ve left me so completely, I no longer can locate you, not even by echo. 

Although I’m sad I’ve lost my source of ever-thinning flesh, I’m happy for you that you’ve left me behind. 

Goodbye, sweet Beauty. Fare better, now.

Alaina Hammond is a poet, playwright, fiction writer, and visual artist. Her poems, plays, short stories, paintings, drawings and photographs have been published both online and in print. Publications include Spinozablue, Third Wednesday Magazine, [Alternate Route], Paddler Press, Verse-Virtual, Macrame Literary Journal, Sublunary Review, Quail Bell Magazine, Superpresent, Clockwise Cat, Ranger Magazine, Troublemaker Firestarter, Fowl Feathered Review, The Ravens Perch, 10 By 10 Flash, Waffle Fried, House of Arcanum, Synchronized Chaos, and Well Read Magazine. @alainaheidelberger on Instagram.