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Poem by Anna Baynton

Tell me I am not alone

my only heart

here in this house of dreams and secrets.

 

Tell me I am not alone when the moon is rising.

 

Tell me when I sit at the window,

howling,

tell me then that I am not alone.

 

Tell me that my need for claws and teeth

is natural.

Tell me that all humans grin like wolves

when nipped by tumbling winter air.

Tell me I am right to love

the wind, the rain, the night the way I do.

 

Tell me that my deep desire

for more than tame burnt sour meat

is merely eccentricity –

tell me I am not alone behind these cracking windows

within this silent icy manor on a fearful frozen hill.

 

Tell me I am not alone.

Tell me my claws are fingernails,

and teeth far blunter than I dreamed last night,

and that the run I took, the hare I felled

were nothing more than troubled passing sleep.

 

Tell me I can shave,

and bathe,

and dress,

and read (o what are letters)

and fall asleep upon a featherbed

and still remain the creature that I am –

 

Tell me I am not alone!

please tell me,

please,

My only light, you very last who loves me best

 

Tell me i have never been alone

and tell me I will never be

 

i beg you, sweetheart

one last favor

lie to me.