Lent Poetry 18

"I made a mistake."

"You did. You should be punished."

I shuffled my feet. "But she said..."

Nemesis peered into my soul,
then laughed at me.

"It is never just a mistake, is it?
It is your stupidity that makes you do the things
you and I do."

Nemesis opened a window.

"You see all these mistakes, you made them.
You did bad things. You hurt people.
You caused problems. You made people annoyed.
You irritated--"

"Stop!" I yelled, swiping at the window
to close it.

Nemesis smiled. Their tendrils wrapping
around my chest.

I stood and let them wrap around me.
I had learned long ago
that running from him
was useless.