I have a horrible fear of moths.
Their fluttering
hovering forms in the darkness
tortured my childhood time after time
instilling nightmares night after night
until I figured out
how to install screens.

I remember this demon creature once
perching on the wall opposite my bed.
I screamed as it watched silently
resting comfortably beyond my reach
defying gravity, logic
and good taste.
Frozen in the beast’s presence
I could not scream.
I could not even move
lest the monster destroy me.
I simply waited
through interminable hours
until the moth-thing had its fill
of my terror
and found another room
in which to hunt.

It took me hours to sleep
after this freak attack
and since then
since my first brush
with the specter of death,
my nights have been kissed with evil
and I have never been the same.
Eternally scarred
I wait in constant dread
of the assailant moth
returning
somehow through the screen door
and taking my place.

If you see me
someday
flapping on by
take care to be sure
that I am me
and not some devil doppelgänger
replacing me
and speaking well
of a thing as despicable
as a moth.