Sestina in Silk

He bound her eyes with blood-red silk
and placed bonds of silver
on her neck.  "You are my swan,"
he said, "my beloved shadow,
to whom I give my whole heartsong.
Let us dance and fuck beneath the stars."

She had always hid her gaze from stars
and kept her gaze low beneath the silk,
even as he hummed a song
and kissed the bonds of silver
harsh upon her neck. The shadow
of his lips felt like the feather of a swan.

She trembled, like a newborn swan
and felt upon her skin the rush of stars
she felt the heat of his shadow
against her skin. Against the silk
her eyes shook.  The silver
trembled, as if it rang in song.

She seemed to hear a sudden song,
the death-cry, perhaps, of a swan,
or something played upon a lyre of silver.
Through her mind danced fiery stars.
She gasped.  She pulled the silk
from her eyes.  "I am no shadow.

Not tonight. If you wish a shadow,
find another to sing your song."
She kissed him and tied the silk
against his chest.  "Let me be a swan
and soar beneath tonight’s dim stars
free of bindings, silk or silver."

He knelt, and touched her chains of silver
then pulled her down into his shadow,
piercing her soul. She screamed to the stars
and turned her scream into a song.
For once, she knew the flight of a swan
and fell against him, weak as silk.

He left her bound in silver silk.
A trembling shadow of a newborn swan.
But she had had her gift of stars and song.

Copyright © 2002 Mari Ness. All rights reserved. Do not copy or post.
Illustration "Grace" Copyright © 2002 Lisa A. Smith. All rights reserved. Do not copy or post.