Litany (Poetry)

Before they come to get me
I will sit here in the dark
and recite as many poems
as I remember off by heart

I admit I changed the river
as I lay there in its way
for the current moaned and worried
and it promised I would pay

Now the water ripples through me
and I flinch at its cold touch
hair wound tight in crazy fingers
tangled finely — all snarled up

I can hear the posse coming
hoofbeats clumping round the bend
just another frantic stanza
mumbled soft before the end