In The Blood (Poetry)

I have her poison in me
I can’t escape my blood
infected still despite the
transfusion’s purging flood.

It is the curse I carry
I failed to cleanse my name
whoever I would marry
the issue is the same.

I’ve passed on the affliction
thus innocence is damned
no dodging cold prediction —
all that the fates had planned.

I thought I could outrun it
ill-luck has slowed me down
while love might have undone it
the years have watched me drown.

I’m overwhelmed — grown bitter
as toxins rise within
each nerve a pain transmitter
when blood’s the pathogen.

Her acid swamps my thinking
her plague has brought me low
defiance ebbs — I’m sinking
resigned to dying slow.