Awakening the Wolf

Wake up screaming in the silence
Jagged shards and raining dust
Relive the sharp collapse
Dread rasping memory

Shivering in your high-rise mausoleum
The purple sun descends upon the
Starving city
Shadow season bequeathed and barren
You watch as scattered torches
Flicker from the broken windows

Stabbing hunger pangs and panic
Like the memory of static
Though you rationed every morsel
Days have passed since your last meal
Desperation drags you further
And you’re creeping through the rubble
In the darkness of an alley
The knife blade glinting in your hand

Awakening the wolf inside
Bare your teeth and howl
Reclaim your nature
Awakening the wolf inside
Would you, could you
Take a life to survive?

A small sharp cry
Descent, delight
The violent heave of splintering ribs

The cries of pain were over quick
But the scavengers are moving in
Hear them baying in the night
As you try to catch your breath
In the sobbing silent aftermath
When you're left to lick the wounds
Does a numbness overcome you?

Waxwork eyes stare in mute judgment
Terrible its vacant, knowing grin
White curve taunting beneath
Bewildering rage inflamed
The hunger, the shame
The fear of what comes next

Feel the blade guide you beneath
Ecstasy, a ripping delirium
Coerce the skin's confessions
Through black streams
Decant the heart's last vintage
Crack the bones and gorge on marrow
Limbs plunging to stir the embers

Sunrise came and found you sated
The fugue of carnage slipping away
Shattered senses slow to reconcile
The blood black wreckage
Choking taste of iron

Wake up to the dusk choir
The screams and laughter echoing
Surrounding shadows inking terror
Hushed among the hopeless
The city is a hunting ground
No longer shall you cower
For tonight you prowl

Fly into blackness unashamed
Stalk silent, drawn to the sound of
Whimpering
Drink deep the fearful scent

Transformed by the savagery
Sing to the moon for all to hear:
“Despair, another beast is free!”

Years of ease and manicures
Denial of your claws
The primal self too long subjugated

Gather blades and sharpened stones
To split the flesh and chip the bone
Anything to render meat
Sharpen your teeth to points
Grinding enamel to a cannibal grin
A sight to shed the skin

Awakening the wolf inside
Bare your teeth and howl
Reclaim your nature
Awakening the wolf inside
Would you, could you
Take a life to survive?