i’ll tease you, relentlessly
just short of mockery
i’ll follow you like a pest, a bug
an invasive species, that’s what i’ll be
the itch on your back that you can’t quite reach
i’ll tickle your brain every waking moment
and even in the ones when you’re asleep
i’ll nudge, poke, prod your buttons
i’m disruptive, i’m reckless
i’ll eat up all of your time
i’ll grate away at your block of energy until your bones are too sore to move
it’s just… too tempting to resist
i’ll make you angry
i am the farthest creature from obedience
i’m annoying and manipulative
only sometimes
i’ll fondle your patience like beads on a band
and wait for you to snap
i’ll play with your heart like a ball of yarn
and your mind a scratching post
i’ll make you run
all the way to the coast
just to be rid of me