Legless, scaly, cat-eyed and sneaky.

Always stalking, hunting, eating. 

I’ve watched you devour rodents and birds,

Hour after hour.

You grow each day,

Shedding your cracked, withered skin;

Revealing your new flawless, shiny coat,

Speckled with all the colors nature has to offer. 

Your mouth, glowing red and

Gaping wide; Welcoming your prey.

Your fangs, long and deadly

Glisten in the Sun. 

A cold-blooded hunter. 

Powerful enough to kill hundreds

with a single drop of your venom.

Yet they rip away your life for

Purses.

Shoes.

Belts.

Material goods, worth so much less than your being. 

You’re bred, kept as pets,

Then thrown away when you grow too large. 

You’re taught to be seen as

“Hideous.”

“Dangerous.”

“A Monster.”

Hated almost as much as the spider. 

But you are, without a doubt,

The most unique and loveable creature

I have come to know and raise.