All trussed up like
a turkey,
The feast abandoned-
Everyone moves
around you
As if you weren't
there.
Of course you aren't.
You're moldy rolls.
Red ice in roasted
meat-
Botulism…
Ptomaine…
Salmonella…
(Best of all)
You're not
The only elephant
In the room…
Bloody right, mate,
'S funny as hell.
Doesn't quite make
up
For the muzzle, but…
Cranberry sauce oozes-
Red as blood-
Nauseatingly sweet.
Anya looks through you,
Putting away the
stuffing.
It's disgusting-
Nothing but stale bread
Soggy with turkey guts-
Buffy snarls from the
kitchen,
"Why didn't you
tell me?"
This is rich.
Me gut's 'r
screamin',
So is the Slayer.
Some friends, eh
pet?
Willow, red Willow
Stares down at her
yams,
In hurt silence.
She knew he was
here.
But she kept quiet,
Even when the
Chumash
Tried to crash the
party.
Some friend, eh pet?
You grin.
Oooo, Buffy all
hurty because her
So-called friends
didn't tell her.
If this wasn't so
soddin' funny,
I'd laugh out loud
–
Monkey boy
Slumps on the couch,
Shoveling clots of
Cold gravy and mash
Into his big, slack
mouth.
Staring past you
Pretending to watch
football
On Giles' pathetic
telly-
The wrong team scores
Unnoticed.
You'd love to
taunt them-
Just to stir things
up again.
But even now you
love death
Too much to risk a
staking.
Buffy's washing
dishes,
Too furious to cry
Too angry not to –
Plates break in her
hands.
Pots dent
And glasses shatter
How d'you like it
now, pet?
Knowing the ones you
love
Have betrayed you…
Like how it feels, eh
pet?
Tha's what friends
are for, eh pet?
Like how it feels,
eh pet?
Drusilla, your
precious Angel,
Even my own mother…
Giles eats
mechanically-
Stuffy old fart!
Mushing up his peas-
Sluicing them down
With red wine.
Swallowing hard.
Your entrails knot.
As in their binding,
You hands start
shaking.
Hunger or anger…?
(Mum…)
Don't go there!
Don't go there!
Don't go there!
Don't go there!
(Bloody hell!)
Don't! Go! There!
Buffy pulls the plug,
The water gurgling
loudly,
Puts on her coat,
And walks alone into
the night.
The others trickle
From the flat
One-by-one in silence.
Giles turns off the
light
On his way to bed.
Leaving you tangled in
the dark.