Fair Warning

I feel it
This deep
Dangerous current
Flowing from my belly
Transiting my veins
Boiling my blood.

I keep
This knowledge
As silent as midnight
Rarely acknowledging
Its truth.

But it’s there.

Rage as certain
As frost in November
As sharp as a tinker’s blade
As hot as the fire of the forge
As extreme as venom
In the mouth of the cobra.

It remains sheathed
Behind my smile
And holstered
In my good nature.

There is no danger
To family and friend
Nor to the innocent
Sharing the pathway
Of blended shadow.

But touch the one I love
Disturb the soil I’ve carefully tilled
Throw my world into disarray
By wanton aggression
And I promise you
No bandage will staunch
The flow of misery
That will issue from
What remains.