In the Easing of the Spring

As February drifted shut,
I startled awake to find
My heart, leering over me,
Clutching a notched
And twisted knife;

Word of my plan
To disassemble and order its parts,
To polish this and rearrange that,
And so on and so forth,
Had reached it -

Screeching, outraged, it reared up,
Armed with barb and blade long honed,
Allied with my Vichy mind,
Arrayed against defenses long dulled,

It swarmed forth,
Sworn to guard
Its every blot, root, worm, and dreg -

God of heaven and earth,
By strong, bared arm and furious light
Fight for me, or I die.