Sweet Serpentine Poem by Hari Msonda

I hear you've been looking for me—
scraping your knees
against the pavements of hell
just to reach me.

I'm here.
Not where you left me—
but I'm here.

No identity.
No solace.
No redemption.

I await your return.

As you slither your way back,
be sure to shed it all this time—
no half-formed ecdysis,
no skin clinging where it shouldn't.

I won't lotion what you've left behind.
I won't mend you back
into the shape that fed on me.

So yes—
I hear you've been looking.

Come as you are,
or don't come at all.

I am ready for you this time.