Riding the White Horse

White roads down a withered path He shows her how to win smiles White powdered lines Stem the painted flowers of her vanity Hot breath leaving chapped lips Inhales Cupping her face Bloody from excess He hung around her A noose draped like pearls He is caught in the back of her throat and she can’t spit him out Hands frozen together from obsession Flakes beat against a skeletal face Cartilage dusted in the snow Convulsions of the heart ending in a soulless shell “Why?” she asks, dripping into the earth “You wanted to be a star” he jeered