The Messenger
"The Messenger"
Love is rich with
venom and honey.
there was a female ...
snake,
it watched
with green-eyed
avarice, covetting
a dove’s nest
the dove,
was white as snow,
not young, getting on,
tiny flecks of grey
the dove
alone, kept guard
in a transitional nest
over her precious one,
who slumbered
in a speckled egg
unlike
Snow White,
the dove
had little
to no sleep
at all,
the dove
kept vigil
over the one
she had not yet met -
but felt, knew
and loved
night and day
day and night
never did the dove stray
sleeping
with one eye open
this was
the dove’s quiet spot
the nest,
her transient home
for only a short while,
was not that safe
from predatory creatures
of the forest, but high enough,
she thought
unlike some doves
one chick only,
yet to hatch,
it was her last shot,
to produce a little one
the snake
envied this, a lot,
slithering around
without a child
of her own to hug
the snake
had missed
her one shot,
this was her last shot
so the snake waited
the snake
waited patiently
for the dove
to sleep, so the snake,
well, she hung around
and waited quite a lot
the worm
hid in its rotten apple
it watched on,
cajoling the snake
to do its bidding
now the snake
that great pretender
spoke in silky friendly tones
to the dove
of trust and better days
“it must be tiring
keeping watch, and
guard over a love
as strong, as close as this”,
the snake parlayed,
beady eyes all the while
on the unhatched egg,
it hissed, it smiled
the acquiescing
docile dove
listened rapturously
to the reptile,
thinking,
"this snake,
is not so bad afterall,
a most wise, friendly
and caring creature indeed",
the dove didn’t hear
the snake’s hiss, at all
the dove valued
the snake’s advice
and for once, not alone
and able to sleep
the dove indeed felt safe
and far from strife
the dove
failed to see
how the reptile
spoke as respectful friend
all the while delivering betrayal
in its camouflaged skin
poison sitting on razor fangs
dripping lies behind its forked tongue
to the trusting dove
the snake
had invisible fangs
it was like an angel
sent to watch over
the two doves with love
to now have a guardian
such as the snake,
the dove thought
her little one and herself,
surely would be safe
to watch over her
precious egg
and her exhausted self
how wonderful this
to close her eyes and sleep
the dove, most grateful,
let the snake
sidle up to her and her precious one,
she let the venomous usurper
slide right on in;
eventually
the dove’s egg hatched
the broken shell shattered,
spilt out of the nest
like lost teeth
onto hard-earthed ground
the baby chick
not in the nest,
was now nowhere
to be found
the dove,
terrified and
heartbroken
sang out in peeling
torturous screams,
no creature listened,
no creature came to assist,
her lonely song of betrayal
was sung to deaf ears
unhelpful ignoring hopelessness
in the underworld
the snake
had the most malleable
precious one
in its den
the snowy owl
silent watcher
in the forest,
witnessing this, took pity
on the hopeless broken dove
the owl
granted the gift
of shapeshifting
to the too kind-hearted
trusting dove
after shaking
some sense
and wisdom
back into the dove
the owl instructed her
in the ways
of transfiguring
the broken parts
of herself back together
through shapeshifting
a meaningful way to escape
as above so below,
to retrieve her true purpose
to secure her true power; and
to find her missing child
for by now
the snake was indeed
in its full power,
slithering around
in its cloistered
underworld
first the dove
drew strength
from her mistake
she became a fearsome
death adder
to locate
her stolen child
she would slither
in the dark shadows
in the underworld,
as one with other snakes
to learn
from the dark
their lessons,
their tricks
their vile art,
the way
their venomous,
cold hearts beat
how they thought,
how they lied
how they lived
then, eaten up
by sorrow,
fear and poison,
she slid fast
out of that
wretched skin
she transformed
herself into a fearless
calculating Mongoose
with hirsute and sharp clawed
revolutionary opinions
she watched with
the fiercest type of love
her stolen child
most avidly
from afar
she established
when the time
was ripe to retrieve her
hypnotised offspring,
keenly and cunningly
she strategised
night and day,
day and night
even in her sleep
she strategised
eventually,
all in good time
without a sound
she’d take her mark,
she’d strike
in a subliminal way
without mercy
most deadly,
most profound
justice would be found
not a drop of blood
from the slaughtered
forked tongue to be wasted
no sign of its existence
left remaining in this world
left standing on the ground
obliterated,
dead,
extinguished
never again the
serpent or its ilk
to be found
the child now
no longer recognised
its mother ...
and enamoured
in the way the snake
manipulated and beguiled,
the stolen child
frightened, flew away from the
mongoose-once-was-mother
to find
the snake’s advisor
the contemptible
cajoling worm
unseen in its rotten apple
a rat holed up in its
dung burrow
called out to the child,
“I am the one
you are seeking child,
come quick, come hither!
You are not safe with a
fierce Mongoose mother.”
worms in this world
are shapeshifters too
when they want to flee
from the truth
they take many forms
the Mongoose
once Dove
recollected
these words,
"a mother's love for its child
is like nothing else
in this world,
it knows no law, no pity
it dares all things, and
crushes down remorselessly
all that stands in its path"
then,
the Mongoose
again transformed
into the most sage and
courageous one of all
a fierce
long dark night hunter
The Forest’s
silent sovereign,
the watcher,
the most noble
the most able,
the most strongest
shapeshifter
over all
the wise
and fearless
Great White Snowy Owl.
...if the winds fail you
use the oars.
(Ladylabyrinth/ 2023)
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Lady Labyrinth
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