LOVE IN PLACES LOFTY AND LOW
by Penny-Anne Beaudoin
Understand this -
it was all my doing
all my choice
right from the very beginning
i sought her out
and i knew what i was doing
for i was not so young as they would like to think
nor she so terribly old
yes
i fled to her
all my slavering fears pursuing
and begged her
in her mercy
hide me
wall me away
from a world man-made
and she worshipped me
with a reverence unreasoned and unrestrained
and fashioned for me
from silver and stone and ivory
and magic and passion and starlight
a sanctuary
a reliquary
to house the bones of her most beloved saint
as she used to like to call me
oh! the altitude of her love!
i ascended into heaven
or rather, she drew me there
and together we lived
our heads in the clouds
our castle in the air
they thought her a witch
and of that i have no doubt
for she well and truly enchanted me
casting spells over my heart
charming my mind
bewitching my body
you are my gateway
she told me once
as she plaited my long golden hair
my living ladder between heaven and earth
i come and go
through you alone
how i grieved each morning
when she descended from me
to find food and treats
gifts and treasures
trinkets and baubles
flowers and comfits
whatever she thought would delight me
when i asked her where it all came from
she would only smile
wave her crafty fingers in the air
and chant
from there, from here
from the ether my dear
most likely she stole it all
it’s the kind of thing love can drive you to
every evening
we danced the darkness down around us
unafraid in each other’s arms
while throngs of fireflies
hovering in the rafters like sympathetic stars
winked knowing eyes at us
and blessed our innocent bed with their kindly light
and always there was the sound of her heart in the night
in the night
in
her heart...
[contents] . 1 . 2 . 3 . [next]