Shooting Star

a Poem by Raquel Swann

From the moment those careless words

Spilled from my tongue

They would fall upon deaf ears

Cast aside with the refuge

Poison extracted from a snake

Into a vile for testing

Turning my emotions

Into anti-venom

So the next soul would

Survive your bite.

I’m not the sun

As it shines over the mountains

In the late afternoon

I’m a shooting star

On a cloudy night

Momentary brilliance

And I’m gone

Out of your sky

At the speed of light.