Second fig
I was burning pretty brightly there
Like a year would last a night
What I fear, before it guttered,
Is that no one saw the light
Athlete’s foot
It is not possible to extirpate you
From your final unholy crevasse
A redoubt of Napoleonic exile
Between my fourth toe and the last
You once laid claim to territories
Whole continents of my nether heel
You were driven thence, your encampments
Razed, your armies put to steel.
But never have I been able to scourge you
From that ultimate hermitage
Invisible specter, ancient enemy
Whose presence I can only infer
Based on the sight of my fallen skin
The slain of my people the testament
To your wayward existence – you sin
You spot, you growth, moss of death
You unwanted lichen of itch and defeat
You mock all human engineering
You stink up and mottle my feet.
Strange nemesis you are awakened
You sense and take power from despair
Reminder of death, you are stirring
For no unguent could burn out your lair
I could not outwit or outlast you
Oh hated friend, ever with me
I could not put you off or deceive you
I could not discourage or bore you
I picked you up in college some time
And we’ve been at it ever since
I tried powders and poultices and potions
But you never flaked off in the rinse
Oh clinger, you
Alone could never tire
of my company
Oh vampire, you – uniquely
Were immune to my tempers and rages
Constant in your fealty, loyal to a fault
By the power of love you will win
You kill me with kindness, you fungus
And by now I suppose we’re kin
Jeff Sessions
Finally I grew up to see
gradations between good and evil --
Just at that moment did I find
That the world has instead decided
To resemble my 14-year-old mind.
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