Erro
Lost in the leaves of a dying season, I turned my eyes from your shadow.
I balanced precariously on the tightrope, I heard her voice and I saw my tears.
Concrete below me, emptiness above, with fears unlearned I stumbled.
Yet I made it across, only to arrive here, a road with no pavement.
The wide brim of my hat veiled you from me, I wondered, so I lifted my eyes to yours.
While I was entranced by the mirror, I heard the chirp of a dove, and an owl’s faint cry.
For she saw the silver chains and warned me, too late, I hungered for feeling.
Enshrouded by my own desperate heart, I saw tulips within a vale.
Who could ever escape your deception, when it looked like love?
I tied my own feet together and laughed on the way down.
I picked flowers for a crown, ignoring the thorns. I hardly felt them scrape against my skin.
I returned your smiles, being blind to the indifference.
Within my own mind, I settled, dancing with the Muses as their mother plucked her harp.
Then the goddess who holds mankind, that lovely Fate, she called to you and you held out your hands.
Oh! How I pleaded with her to tie me with the same strings! She pointed to my hands and said,
“My child, you must let go first.”
It was then I noticed I was clasping your ankles. She told me only fools bind themselves to stone.
I took no heed to her words, I had been drowning for a long time and I forgot my breath.
Oh misery! I still long for the ocean, as icy as it may be.
I was numb before your touch and though I wanted warmth, I accepted the cold.
Where will I go, when the wintry breeze chills me to the bone, and the blizzard prevents my path?
If only I had listened to the wise one, and cast away the dove!
No matter, I will search for your smiles in every window.
And every time I kneel, I will pray to that goddess, that she might bring you to me.
I will follow the sound which seeps into my soul, and as I roam, still, the owl will perch.
Who shall find me, wandering alone in the echo of your laugh?
Copyright © Victoria Smith | Year Posted 2024
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