She came with me, you see.
Swallowed whole, licked her lips.
Juice stained her mouth.
She bared her sharp little teeth and asked for more.
My bird-boned bride with a lion’s heart-
I am tender with her.
She soothes and comforts, encompasses and intoxicates,
The dearest demon I’ve ever seen.

I have never loved the light;
It has been harsh and hot and there was nothing I wanted there.
But she is full of earth, of growing things.
She carries golden summer in her laugh.
When above is barren, she is warm.
She is so alive.

Souls drift through my land, solitary and silent.
(What sad creatures these men become.)
When they wail in the night, I press my knees to the ground,
Listening for her voice at my gates.
Wait, she calls. Soon.

She sweeps in with the first of the rains,
As the trees sway, dancing their autumnal rhythm,
As the leaves whither and fall,
As the petals collapse into memories.
Her ivy fingers twine in my hair and I twine around her.
The storm breaks.
I touch her and I am home.