Mine To Take

A Villanelle

Perched, poised, placed in position

Knife at the ready, wind from the east

Carve with my dagger, information released

Nothing but me, me and my mission

.

A bullet is issued from across the street

Anger floods me; revenge is not sweet

Assess, reassess the Boss hisses in my ear

Failure on my part is not tolerated here

The target sputters her life on the ground

Alpine snow forming the grave she's found

.

That girl was my mission; that mission was mine

Who are you, interloper, to take that from me?

The intel is gone, crimson blood seeping free

Already I hear punishments electronic whine

.

I'll make you regret that shot fired in the night

You're a threat you've just shown, but I own this fight

Across the dark clearing the sniper I find

She was not yours to kill! I shriek in my mind

I don't even flinch as I drop from my post

Hushed footsteps fall, the whispers of a ghost

.

Bullets like banshees banish his life

Down he tumbles from his spot on a limb

I holster my pistols, kick his corpse on a whim

Muse on my master as I re-sheath my knife

.

The target is dead; my mission has failed

Beyond a hunter's gaze my shaken heart quailed

The Boss does not take kindly to such mistakes

As I stare at the target, I shiver and quake

I wish I were them a voice whimpers in my head

It would be better, right now, if all three here were dead