I am here. I am there. I am everywhere.

Every place you've been, I've waited.

Every face you've seen, I have worn.

I have not one name, but thousands.

I come on the wings of an epidemic,

of a massacre, a lone scream in the night.

Announced by the distant thunder of war,

or the bleat of the slaughtered calf.

I visit the dying in their burning skin,

devour the bodies of the sick.

I crush the hearts of the hopeul

as I dance on the backs of the weak.

Your greatest fears are my delight.

With your cries you invite me in.

I am the bretrayal you could not have seen,

the killer you thought you knew.

One day, I will be your mother,

or your father, or your lover.

Another day, I will be your friend, or your neighbour,

or perhaps, I will work through you.

There are monsters hiding in your closet,

there are ghost beneath your bed.

The nightmare you feared was real...

IS real.

These are little gifts to you, from me.

I love you, in my own little way,

for with your suffering, I am alive.

Can't you hear the music in the wind?

Don't you recognize the tune?

It is you, my friend, your struggling,

your spirit being torn limb from limb.

But I am not Death.

Death is your deliverer.

Death looks to me, with sorrow in her eyes,

and asks: "Why must you do this?"

My answer remains unchanged:

"I do what you cannot, what you dare not.

No end is swift under my watch.

Mercy is a mistake I correct.

There is not and there will never be

any deity above myself.

I am peace destroyed and eyes forced open,

the ragged ring around your neck.

I am your secret wish for others,

I am their secret wish for you.

I make your work have meanning".

I am as old as life itself,

and I shall remain in its memory,

even when all is gone.

There is no discrimination in my actions.

Once in my grasp, no one is better than the other.

I am the fair retribution for your deeds,

or lack thereof.

In the end, there is no difference:

my work is the only priority.

I have not one name, but thousands:

"Nightmare, Fear, Dispair..."

But you... you may call me Agony.

And I am pleased to make your acquaintance.

- by: Keilvethe