ode to my babadook

i have set you a place at my table
come now, sit
don’t be shy
we both know i’m quit of ignoring you

you shudder with terrible life
your shackles clink and rattle
throw them off
see?
i don’t tighten them anymore

drag yourself across that lightless space
through the muck and the squalor i imposed
creep slink slither stomp
up the stairs i splintered in my pointless flight

yes
now i am inviting you
rupture the door i once slammed shut behind me
when i left you to swell monstrous in your starvation

i have set you a place at my table

so come

stinking of my fears my denials my rage
come
reeking of the bones and rot
i buried beneath pleasant teeth
come

take your seat at my table,
hungry thing
for i am quit of depriving you

my demon
my dark passenger
my insatiable spiral

i will tuck your napkin beneath your chin
and feed you
from my heart
in the radiance the air the open

where you see me
and i always see you
and together we show the world
that darkness is nothing to fear.

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