Surviving the Hunter's Game

The sun spills it’s warming rays down

Covering my shoulders like a blanket

My bare skin absorbs the light and heat

Turning a tawny golden brown



I walk with purpose, steadily

The footsteps fall one after the other

Over and over, pulling me closer

This is the day that I get my life back



I have made the decision to hate you

I will feel no mercy or compassion

Just as you had none for me

When I had to live beneath your gaze



I'll always carry the memory of your eyes

How they would change at times

To those of a hungry predator

Narrowing on the weak or injured



I saw the next move enter your mind

I watched as you would prepare

For the ecstacy of the hunt

Your muscles twitching in anticipation



Your lips curling back to bare your teeth

Half smiling from savoring the pleasure

Half sneering with unlevened hate

A throaty growl rumbling in your chest



Even when I saw you ducking down

Inching even closer to your target

Stalking with the stealth of a animal

Caught in your gaze I'm trapped



You strike when I least expect

I’m blinded by trust and innocence

My naivity keeps me primed and ready

To fall victim to your attack



It was far too late for me fight you

When I realized what you were doing

For your eyes had narrowed, focused

And they came to settle on me



You found it easy to make me stumble

Yes, I fell quickly to your predation

But what you were not expecting

Is that I would get back up



I saw your fascination with my will

I was more challenging than you’d planned

My strength held me up when I felt I’d fall

It steadied my shaking body from within



You never counted on having me stop so soon

Or watching me plant my feet, determined

But most of all I remember your surprise

When you realized, I had turned to fight



You watched my eyes as they filled with rage

I had seen the fear you held inside

My lips pulled back in a most wicked grin

And I saw your foot step back...a first



I knew then, that your suffocation would end

Along with the fear and the threats

I broke from the chains you’d held on my mind

And the coward you are shined through



Just as brightly as the sun that now warms me

A summer day that will not hold you in it

You have no power over my soul anymore

For I am the one that would never fall prey



I am the one to survive your bloodthirsty hunt

And the reason I came out as the victor

The one thing breaking me free of your chains

This predator could never be your prey.