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Working: Volume 2, Number 1 - Issue 5 Spring 2023

That Doll​

That doll won’t come to life.
 
You know it, and I know it.
It is a doll –
Plastic shaped into
A face, and hands, with eyes that
Cannot see.
The hair is made in a
Machine.
 
It does not know who you are,
Or if you care to rip it apart,
Cut it up, or
Throw it into the bin.
 
That doll is not alive.
It has no soul.
 
But how afraid I am of that doll!
That ten-inch-tall plastic painted
In mauve, gaudy yellow hair, and a
Discolored shoe!
 
It stares at me with those eyes,
Even when there’s no light,
Even when I have wrapped it up in
Cloth.
Do not ask me how.
I know it sees my soul.
 
I was alone that night. No one knows
How I sinned.
How I finally got my way, got square.
 
It just happened.
There’s no trace.
 
But that doll was there.
 
I did not see at first, then I knew.
 
It saw inside my soul.
Deep into the darkness in the
Shadowed room, and it
Mocks me now with those
Painted eyes.
 
I cannot throw it away, cut it,
Twist it into a shapeless piece
Or smash it under my feet
 
I know that it will see
Even when it’s not there
With eyes that always follow
That always get even,
No matter what you do.

FARIEL SHAFEE
​has degrees in science, but enjoys writing and art.  She has published in decomP, Blaze Vox and various Black Ink Fiction Anthologies among others.  Her art portfolio can be seen on http://fshafee.wixsite.com/farielsart

Copyright © 2023 Empyrean Literary Magazine, L.L.C.
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