The Vampire that Fed on Me

Vampires walk these streets
	day and night.
You wouldn't think something
this sinister would be found
on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill...

And you wouldn't recognize them
for what they are
I know, because I didn't recognize
what she was – she seemed
nice enough

the vampire that drank my blood
for a year and more.
Sometimes I feel like quite the fool
for not knowing what she was.

I was warned and told how how
she would use me to feed her craving
but not being the type to judge
I believed in her and what she told me.

She used the word love
like a snake uses its forked tongue...
and had I looked deeper
into her eyes I would have known
she had no conscience

no morals, no sense of right and wrong
no guilt.
And now the shroud of this memory
hangs over me like a quiet lonely night.

And I wonder how I'll find
someone different, someone to trust
and believe.  And I wonder
if I'll believe in myself – for I must
have believed I did not deserve better

Or perhaps I believed I deserved some
punishment.
Once you see evil, it's hard not to feel
somehow dirtied by the encounter.

by Bruce Whealton – April 1, 2009