Esther
In the hollow behind the house
I lie on the ground,
Twisting blackness in the sky and
The path back disappearing.
On all sides rises the monkey grass
But I can’t stroke a single blade--
Balmy is the air around me but
I am frozen: a stubborn patch of moss or
A petrified tree root firmly implanted.
Underhanded are my prayers,
Haphazard my atonement.
Careless I was, for I wrote my deeds in ink.
Neither the gravel that stretches to my fortress
Nor the green and brown and gray that surround me
Can mend my hateful pieces.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here,
And I a devil no less.
The pebbles in my hand
Little pieces of Hades,
But Persephone is
Gone like the flame that burned away the brush.
The little creature on the rock turns to ash,
O my enemy, do I terrify?
My bedroom window I see from my peripherals,
But it’s just so
far
away.
Thirteen steps I’ve counted to and from,
A journey I will never again make.
I lie on the ground,
Twisting blackness in the sky and
The path back disappearing.
On all sides rises the monkey grass
But I can’t stroke a single blade--
Balmy is the air around me but
I am frozen: a stubborn patch of moss or
A petrified tree root firmly implanted.
Underhanded are my prayers,
Haphazard my atonement.
Careless I was, for I wrote my deeds in ink.
Neither the gravel that stretches to my fortress
Nor the green and brown and gray that surround me
Can mend my hateful pieces.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here,
And I a devil no less.
The pebbles in my hand
Little pieces of Hades,
But Persephone is
Gone like the flame that burned away the brush.
The little creature on the rock turns to ash,
O my enemy, do I terrify?
My bedroom window I see from my peripherals,
But it’s just so
far
away.
Thirteen steps I’ve counted to and from,
A journey I will never again make.