From the Eyes of the Other Side
I am the bitter cold
making you shudder violently
I am like a resilient and adamant wave of water
enfolding around you and constricting tightly
I am your concealed stalker
following you relentlessly
and attacking without warning
I am the wasting illness
slowly devouring your soul
I am your reoccurring nightmare
evocatively lingering
a daunting presence
acerbic to those I encounter
I am the austere and dismal rain
pouring down and drenching you in sorrow
I am a deadly plague
spreading and infecting this besmirched world
I am vindictive and heartless to those that await me
I engage in sadistic games
I don no cloak
I wield no scythe
I am merely your shadow spirit
hovering...howling...hiding
injecting fear like a lethal poison
I see everything
horrific things
I see the young woman in the damp alleyway
whose life has been cut short by a robber
too greedy for his own good
I see the newborn infant
laying motionless in the hospital room
cursed to die without a chance to know the world
I see the hurricane
washing away lives along with the scattered buildings
I am forced to capture the lost souls
However
I see the relief in an old man's eyes
when the illness tormenting him for so long finally takes over
his body no longer riddled with pain
he is free
yet I am bound
enslaved to this life of lament I possess
I am constrained
I wouldn't dare be so blessed
because I can also see the courageous daycare teacher
ushering frightened children from the burning building
then going back to check for more
saving their precious little lives
but at the cost of her own
And I can see the mourning in the eyes of those that are left behind
their grief is unfathomable
I know everything
terrible and frightening things
poignant and painful things
I carry a sleek black book
names written amiss and askew
the cause of death scribbled just below
you cannot escape my cursed tome
I see your name in golden letters
I know exactly how long you have left
Tortured screams from the night sharply pierce my ears
I cover them
but it does no good
I know only sorrow
I'm forbidden anything else
For you see
this is my punishment
this dreadful job of mine
A penalty
to atone for my many sins
For I...am a Shinigami
I am...a God of Death
