Fear is a silken cord
That wraps around your heart
Closes off your throat
Smothers your dreams
And steals the light from your soul

It burns
Like the icy cold blade
Of grass
It’s tiny cuts
Ooze and Fester
Stills the feet
Races the heart
Fogs the mind
Wets the palms, the pants
Twists the reality into
Nightmarish clowns
Pulls the teeth from the lion
And stuffs them tightly
Into the teddybear

Death by
Slow stagnation