We all have memories of small events or scenes that inexplicably loom large in our consciousness. Maybe that’s for a reason. Maybe they help shape who we are as individuals.

If you’ve ever seen a fly
seconds after it’s been sprayed,
struggling on the sill
in an irreversible daze —

         that’s where you’ll find me.

I’ll burn the scene into your mind,
then I’ll make you hit rewind, —
so deep it’s carved in your memory,
so it haunts you when you sleep.

For I am swift and hell-bent,
before I can be kind,
and never shall I relent
until the time arrives,
when Anger my enemy
and his bedfellow Hate
within your heart evaporate,
     and you can’t even harm a fly.