“The Dark Champion Speaks” by Sheryl Joy P. Ola’o

I have watched you with hunger in my eyes
The willful urge that seems to tug at me,
To spring out from me
To clasp and swallow you
Into nothingness
Is only curbed by the grip of reason
That keeps me on a leash
Oh, how often was I tempted
To relieve you of the burden of breath
How I've wanted to rush
The hands of my friend time;
I tempt him too, but sometimes
He's as rooted to reason as the master
Of his master
Do you even know you're his master, too?
That you create him?
That he only lives because he is remembered
And because you live?
Or are you too full of time to think of it?
Ah! There's fear, anger and hate - my comrades
And, I almost forgot, despair and sadness too.
Oh, here comes accident, the devious one... the thief
Who makes me a deal and breaks it
And of course, the beloved sacrifice... always so selfless

I am watching you; I walk with you
I lurk in the shadows, bask in daylight
Waiting for the chance to strike
I am the champion of destruction, but also of rebirth
I am death.