SOMEWHERE IN MY HOUSE

To-night
I am sharing my house with a snake

After locking the outer gate
I saw it hanging like a piece of rope
Swinging in the dark against the moon
From the purple creeper
That robes my eaves.

And while I went searching for a stick
It curled under the silent tendrils
Slithered over the cloud-shadowed roof tiles
Leaving no trace.

But I know it is there, all the tensile strength
Of its smooth-coiled body
And the venomous stare
Of those lidless
Eyes

Somewhere in my house
A snake
Is waiting