I dreamed a snake was coming at me Its fangs were tearing up my face Claimed it didn’t want to kill me Just loved a bloody, bruised embrace It ate the heart out of my chest Left me just barely still alive I said, fucking snake, I may be dying But I won’t leave you to thrive That snake’s head, it had a name, of course Its body had more names besides It retreated to its heat rock While I spewed out some pesticides I will catch it by that tail, I said And I will make that tail talk The tail is the weakest one It still thinks I’ll let it walk That snake ate my fucking heart out Drank my life up sip by sip There is no peace or quarter now I’ll make each rat of theirs jump ship Recall, that tail has a rap sheet And knows the secrets of the head Secrets will burn the heat rock down A long, long time after I’m dead I am tired of saying ‘snake head’ And I’m fucking tired of saying ‘tail’ I’m tired of saying I dreamt it Fake names became so stale I’ve now called out so many bastards So many monsters fear my name But my heart has still been eaten And I will die here just the same I’ve heard all this music play before And I’m sure I have danced this dance I hope I’ve learned it all well enough To escape future claimed “romance” May I never meet this snake again On the other the side or another life But if I do, I’ll fuck them up again Their secrets will be my knife The walk has grown much harder My breathing’s turned shallow I’ve gone down fucking fighting But the ending well I know I’m yearning for a heart reshaped It’s futile--maybe that’s true But still I’ve gone down fucking fighting It’s what I was meant to do I came for the head of the snake And I then came here for the tail I came to break its heat rock I came for each fucking scale Best believe some will die in prison Best believe some will go to jail A storm’s coming on the horizon And they’ll all be left to wail Yes, a storm will still come after me And it will leave them all to wail