Witch Hunt Poem by Beatrice Preti

Do you see them? The shadows? They chase me nonstop
They run through my veins and make my ears pop
They stuff up my throat until I can't breathe
And new ones arrive, but the old ones don't leave
They are the shadows of demons that I've known for years
They drag me to the edge, push me off, and then cheer
They leave me on cliffs, hanging onto by a thread,
Stabbed, broken, bleeding. I'd be better off dead.
These demons pursue me wherever I run
They haunt me with memories of the things that I've done
Venom drips from their mouths as their spiteful words fly
They'll rip up my heart until the day that I die