I cling to speeding, spinning cones of lead

That pierce the air and armour, skin and bone;

Once deep inside, I ditch my deathly ride,

Spread dark destruction, quell life's fragile wick.

*

I cleave to sharpened shards of stainless steel

That separate the living from the dead.

A scratch, a nick, a cut will let me in

To fester in the ragged bloodied meat.

*

I steal by roadsides, lakesides, seasides, waiting

For unwary or foolhardy souls

To cast their fleshy vehicles in my flow -

Cold corpses crushed and broken by the tides.

*

Secreted in air, water, oil and blood,

Then drawn to life's sweet heat, I bathe and bask,

Divide and multiply and overrun;

Corruption boiling, bursting from within.

*

I stow away in Love's soft arrow tip -

My favourite secret deadly trick is this -

And strike the body, mind and soul with one shaft,

Wreak my havoc by a lover's stray hand.

*