Dangerous Meanderings

I have a game for you. “Why not!” you say. A beer or six here, a hit or two there, Many others play this game every day. A few more and you'll be better than square! A dance of wild thrills, a dance just for fun, You can turn and walk if it gets sticky. Dance all by yourself, dance with anyone. In time, you don’t bother to be picky. Don’t flatter me, I know I'm compelling; The dream I dangle, just out of your reach. Sniff, sniff. Whiff of putrid scent you're smelling? Leviathan floundering on the beach. Pale tales of restraint you have been telling. Talk all you want, we both know it’s too late. You’d already bought what I was selling The first moment you nibbled on the bait. It's just a trap now, no more scraps of cheese. Worse to struggle in my steel sleeper hold. You thought you could leave whenever you pleased, Tight Chinese finger puzzle for your soul. Maze of mirrors, the exit eludes you. Optical illusion you can’t unsee, Should you get out, crimson game is not through. It will never end, my trap is in thee. Can you feel the romance? It feels you too. You want to touch it, relieve the tension. One more sweet taste, what’s the worst it could do? Sucks you back to the zero-th dimension. Spiritual riddle, your heart breaking. Soul-murdering beast, and yet you feed it. A dank, bleak prison of your own making. What was that something you knew you needed? Tell your children to avoid me, but I’ve The sweetest candy, shiniest balloon I lay in patient wait for them, here’s why: With stealth, I know they will be mine, and soon. 3/19/16 For my kids, in the hope that they will make better mistakes than I did.