jagged beast

there is some jagged
thing inside of me, nesting
within. slumbering
now, but
at any moment
it could wake
again,
rampaging through me,
a ravenous, broken beast.

this thing nestles within
my breast, my head, my very soul.
this blackened beast is me.

a broken-mirror image
of me, distorted into a grotesque
caricature. this Other Me
could destroy all
i've worked to create,
a paper house i've lovingly
built, lavished with beauty.
but

i could lose it all
in a breath.
in a change of the wind.

so i hold
my heart softly, a precious
treasure. and i
pray. i pray
the slumbering Other
never wakes.