Haaotia
The Haaotia first came when you were young
Crawling into your presence cleverly
disguised in the skins of your own blood,
they began to tell you their lies
They told these lies in soft voices,
the voices with the same timbre and
tone you'd come to trust, they'd chuckle
in the same cheerful way that you'd heard
so many times in the light, when you were young
Even in the dark, you could see the smiles
on their terrible faces, as they told you not
to be afraid, the same smiles that
before, had lifted your heart and
made you laugh, when you were afraid
Telling their lies to you behind those
familiar smiles; with their soft voices
and chuckles, they were such friendly,
cheerful demons, so familiar, so familiar
even their smell and their touch was familiar
How could you be afraid of the Haaotia?
But, you were afraid and so you kept quiet,
with all the smiles and chuckles and smells
and touches in the dark, you were so quiet,
because you were very afraid of them
finding the others, the younger ones
You found a way to leave your body to keep quiet;
in your mind you went elsewhere, somewhere
far, far away from there, far from the familiar smiles
and soft voices and chuckles
Far away from the smells and the touches in the dark,
as far as you could go, to places with no name
in your language, places the Haaotia couldn't know
When you'd come back, they were always gone,
their smiles and chuckles and smells were gone,
but the feel of their touches never left you
The feel has never left, it may never leave
Because the Haaotia,
with their familiar smiles
and soft voices and chuckles
Touched your soul
Author's notes:
Haaotia is a Beothuk (Native North American language) word for demon.
This was written for someone that I loved very deeply who suffered terribly at the hands of their own loved ones.
I dedicate it to them and anyone else who has felt the terrible touch of their own Haaotia
Copyright © David Brown | Year Posted 2014
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