There is a shape I see,

That never stops following me

Like how the night follows the day

or a lion stalking its prey

It grows slowly like a child in care

feeding on my worst despair

I can always feel its faint presence

Sneaking, chasing, hunting

I’m getting pulled into its voracious maw

Eating, consuming, devouring

I can’t seem to cut its deathly tether

Gripping, clinging, suffocating

I can feel it creeping slowly

coming close as I lay steady

Like a spider climbing down the drapes 

or a cold sweat running down my nape

I’m hoping that someday I will escape

this dark, twisted, cruel shape