Unwound

The End Of The Beginning

XV.

sunrise

sunset

and then

the darkness

XIV.

a horse

a noose

and the relic oak;

this is your sentence

XIII.

"But I loved him."

XII.

"Your union was forbidden. And now his life has ended.

You carry death about you. This you know."

XI.

"Did you give pause to consider?" asked the Patriarch.

"I wear pollen and the smell of a saddle blanket. 

Every petal tossed into the Maiandros was worth the price." she said.

X.

Sunrise

then sunset

she went before the council

IX.

by decree

he had to be burned

VIII.

2 moons, and

2 suns

and

one last sunset

then

he was gone

VII.

sunset

moonrise

sunrise

then

the ague

The Beginning Of The End

I.

She tossed petals, one at a time, into the Maiandros.

II.

"Picking flowers by the bank, a worthy occupation."

He was tall, covered in dust and sculpted from raw iron.

III.

"I'll return for you later and

I will take you

here

in the long grass," he said.

IV.

"So you may. But will I be here?

I bend senuous with the watercourse.

You might find me by the oxbow lake;

it's equilibrium that I seek."

V.

after a while

the man returned

clutching riverbank grape

and a bottle of it's produce

handing her the parcel of leaves

"This is for your pleasure and

the bottle is for ours."

VI.

and later

her dress whispered

as it fell

VII.

sunset

moonrise

sunrise