Dancing with the Cobras Inside Us
By Don Iannone

Silent desperate virtues float
like dancing flames on burned down candles
in the timeless cave of the heart.
Just a feeling you say. Maybe, but
isn't it funny how habits of character--
both good and bad,
seem to linger inside us,
and dance like magical king cobras,
spitting their venom into our lives.
Destruction and regeneration, both potentialities
inside us in any given moment.
Sometimes one, and other times more...
quivering inside us, like slowly burning candles
awaiting the right breeze to ride in our direction.