Red Kryptonite

With super-powers
on high alert, senses
finely tuned, wary of being
trapped again by familiar
enemy disguised behind a
different face, a different shell

My eyes scan you,

check how you carry

yourself, how you interact

with others, how you fit

into your environment

My ears listen for clues

telling me that you

are not exactly who 
you appear to be

So busy watching, listening,

did not notice when the

lead wall came down until

limbs grew weak,

heart beat faster

words stumbled,

and through strange

telepathic connection,

felt I had known

you forever

Looking back, I wonder…

was it red kryptonite that 

altered this life all those years ago

or the heart hidden behind it?

© Ginny Brannan February 2012

For my dear husband, Ray… who brought the wall down.
***Written for The Mag #103, they provide image, we provide story!
*Image: a grave at the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
********************************************************* 
On seeing image, my first thought was Kryptonite--too many comic books read as a child, what can I say? Here are some of the curious facts about this:

*A Note on Red Kryptonite--from DC Comics database, by Brian Kurtz

 Red Kryptonite inflicts random effects on Kryptonians, typically creating an initial "tingling effect" in those affected, and causing, in part, some of the following:

• Loss of power
• Gained telepathy
• Losing his invulnerability (along the left side of his body)
• Unable to speak or write anything (but Kryptonese)
• Loss of balance and manual dexterity
• Mental transference
• Personality alteration