That Beast

that beast within,
locked in the cage
of our unspoken desires;

that swallows darkness
with sexual intensity,
that drools in our dreams.

the face of all the hatreds
and prejudices we abhor....
that hungers for blood....

that stalks the hollow man,
who wears our bodies....
and sleeps with our women....

that beast, whose very existence
we deny, whose name we dare
not speak... diseased and stinking....

yet when we take his withered hand,
a change occurs, in him or us....
the leper's hand becomes eagles' wings...

the face of God fills the hollow man!

poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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