In the Cave

By: MJ Whelan

Never venture far off the little path

In fact, never go down it to start with

Lest you invoke the dark forest’s fierce wrath

My mother told me of the tales & myth

But I couldn’t tear my small eyes away from it

It haunted my dreams and waking moments

I never cared that the dark forest bit

People, people remind me of rodents

I entered the forest today, freedom!

It started raining heavily, soaking

The kind of cold in a mausoleum

There’s a cave! What’s that, dark red and staining?

Something dark and bad makes its life inside,

I can hear it’s frantic scratching outside…