The anger lay frozen in my petrified heart,
a scorpion in amber,
forever poised for the sting, encased
in resin that seeped from an ancient wound
pierced long ago through my armoring bark.
I thought it dead, fossilized and safe,
yet now rage builds within me,
rapping against the hard shell of my heart.
It burns in my veins like venom.

My brother's eyes mirror mine, I resonate
with his rage, a mad bull bent on self-destruction.
That which isn't flint is tinder,
fuels the fire within.
Its heat dissolves the amber into resin
and sets the scorpion free to strike.
Blood on my hands, my brother's blood,
blossoms of red on my shirt, his mouth,
my hand aflame with pain.

I wail my questions into the swaddling
darkness, seeking reason within
the beast we have become.
Light glows gold through amber.

***
As an empath, I am often overwhelmed by emotions that don't even belong to me. Resonating with love or joy is one thing, but rage is quite another. I fear what I become at those times, and am working hard on keeping my Self intact and whole so that I may sense another's pain without making it my own.