The feeling curls around my throat,

Loose at first 

then becoming 

Tight,

The coils of a python trapping me

Within a tight embrace

I wonder 

Will I escape?

Shiny though the scales are, 

warm and smooth,

Soft in the caress of death. 

Deceptively dangerous,

I gasp for breath

Searching for a last crumb

Of release 

But one last exhale 

and it has succeeded 

Where I have failed