Guise
Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”

I am aware that I am the precursor
of an eternal emptiness for you.
I am feared by all, from kings to mercers,
carrying souls away when they are due.
I’ll never forget my tensest victim,
my first “tap-taps” on his quaint bedroom door.
He was senile; I thought I had tricked him,
But he understood the word “nevermore.”
He was the first to see through my façade.
I was baffled the old man wisely knew
that I’m not a bird, but more of a god.
This is my job. If it’s not me then who?
Too many now know when I flutter in
that I’m only disguised as a raven.