The monster we keep

I know that we keep a monster in the basement:
it had pried around, before the foundations
had a chance to set—in its bright blue suit—
persuading us that the house was unstable.

By all accounts, it had taken several steps
across the living room, and towards the safe,
when the framework groaned, before it was shifted
under pressure from the monster's weight.

In the frenzy of confusion, it became
irrational—racing to the basement—stating
that unless we kept it there to support
the foundations, the house would fall.

We now feed it a proportion of everything
we have to eat; its appetite has increased
as time has passed. Though I never see it strain
to hold the house up, even as it sinks.

I think that we keep it there through fear;
though I wonder: if we had to lock it in
unfed, would we cause it to come for us,
or to die—to devour itself—from within?

Prontobard (October 2022)