Shadows

*Written for Abed's Hunger Game Contest-Round One*

Never understood the full concept
of prisoner on death row
until morn' approached
to find shackles waiting upon my step
ready to aim, shoot, fire
should I choose to run

Chancing a glance behind at loved ones
Feeling as desolate as the last leaf on a tree
in the coldest winter before it billows
slowly to the ground

Now I know, how gladiators feel
Entering the staging area
How the man on death row felt
as he was ushered into the chair
and the crowd watching
is as silent as a mourner in a graveyard
fear cripples my entire being like
a knife slicing through the gut
yet somehow, I manage to portray serenity.

Never intended to be fallacious
mother did not raise me that way
only now,
I must catch my salmon on the line
reel them in
strike

For as I gaze around this vast emptiness
shadows stalk ever closer
destiny is uncertain and tomorrow may not come
For silent shadows stalk, quietly waiting
To pounce