My Tell-Tale Heart- a Twist On Poe

It wasn’t that I’d done you wrong I welcomed you into my heart’s home I cherished you And I fed you I protected you I let you dream your dreams In comfort In safety And I loved you You were my own And yet…. Day upon day You waited for the opportunity To confess Knowing it would kill me Knowing I would bleed You had a perverse pleasure In planning…. To murder my heart And I never had a clue I trusted you You planned…you observed And all the while you smiled Acting sweet and caring Checking on me Making sure my needs were met And then Out of nowhere Like lightning You struck my unsuspecting heart Rammed the dagger in deep And twisted Twisted To make sure All the blood was spilt Satisfied and sure of yourself You hid your gruesome work Underneath layers of indifference Buried Or so you thought But every now and then You hear it I know….I can see it on your face You hear the beating of my heart My tell-tale heart It still beats for you It’s still alive You try to deaden it The noise It’s driving you mad As you wine and dine her You try to make love to her More vigorously than before More often More intensely But as she is screaming your name Begging you for more In the crescendo of passion You heart it The beating of my heart It drowns out her voice It drowns out everything It pounds in your head You can’t go on Angry You leave her wanting As you run out of the room screaming… “STOP IT I hear your cry I killed your love Why do you still haunt me?” Beat after beat after beat My heart is still alive You feel it You are drawn to it She notices They notice You are agitated Something is driving you mad It’s me You remember my goodness My smile...my bed...my scent my love...my body...my warmth That pounding in your head Is desire for me It gets louder…LOUDER As you walk over to where I stand With each quickened step The pounding intensifies Surely everyone must hear it You come closer The indifference gone from your face Love...Passion...Repentance I hear the beating Thundering in my own ears My love for you You are closer You put your head on my chest Your tears wet my blouse I run my hands through your hair As I whisper… “Listen… My Tell-Tale heart Is still beating for you!” Eileen Manassian Ghali