The Mentalist's Secret

And among those meaningless kisses-
And the silent stares that they gave each other
She suddenly asked one day,
"You read minds, don't you?"

The mentalist looked at her, almost aglow
And then, gruffly replied, "Yes."
"Then why did you lie to me?"

And as cold snakes, greased to shine-
Uncoil in the light, for the moment
When the charmer opens his long-closed basket-
He squirmed. He looked at her.

"I know you," she said.
"You needn't be afraid," she said.
And she touched his chest.

And the hard rock, just as brittle-
Broke on impact of a cold hard floor.
One ego, now a thousand, all small
Yet bigger still. He looked angry.

"You know me," she cried.
"Why is it so difficult for you to share?"
"Why didn't you tell me all this while?"

And tomorrow when they'll see her
Dangling with a coil around her neck
The question in her eyes, like a forked tongue
Unlike her- alive and flicking still.