the intruder

on the beach one day

i passed a memory

lying in the sand

I gave its jagged

teeth a wide berth

but it lept at my ankle

after awhile only a

small scab was left

of a gash to the bone

until I realized

an infection had

seeped into my brain

bad dreams

vague anxieties

unwanted thoughts

stowaways on peaceful

moments burrowing to

forbidden places

like a path of

gateways each

darker than before

plunging into the center,

a bubbling cauldron

of white heat

the origin of terror

everlasting sin

abandonment

death

yet

crossing this singularity

into the soul’s black hole is

the pathway to enlightenment