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THE MIRROR

By Kevin Childs



As I lie with you on our bed

The sheet all wrapped around us

Like a crumpled veil, Venus

Has made a crown of your hair,

You head pale and shadowy.


There’s nothing of your body

Except what my fingers touch,

Only a face on a silver radiance

Of sleep. Don’t open those eyes

Yet. I’m not awake enough

For their enchantment.


And I dare not look back

For fear of you dissolving into air

With nothing but your eyes, your lips

Whispering goodbyes.


I still remember the taste

Of blood on those lips,

The sticky perfume on your skin.


Will you dance for me? The night

Is full of love, the New Moon

Has drawn her veil of stars

To watch your feet as they move

Like serpents on the shining floor.


Dance for me and I’ll

Give you what you desire:

My head upon a silver plate;

You can run your fingers through

My slime-matted hair and kiss

The bitter love on my cold mouth,

Drink the blood from my neck

And bite my lips with your teeth.


And all the world will watch

On phones and tablets and laptop screens.

Only dance for me. And they

Will see the veils drop from the sky.


Paint your kohl-black eyes and dye

Your hands and feet with henna.

Let the sweat of your body shimmer

Like jewels in the flickering light

From a million screenshots

In honour of the great goddess.


Dance for me as you have done

Two thousand years or more,

Man, woman, demi-god,

Sex-shifter, like the blind necromancer.


I am your bloodied prophet now,

My voice is a storm

On the vast ocean,

And my desert of a heart

Will open up and swallow you

To the last, glistening drop.

My eyes will shatter

Into broken glass

Upon the floor. Your feet

Will bleed on the razor-sharp shards.

My hair will fill your mouth,

Serpent-like and poison your veins.

My cock will tear the shining veils

From off your burning flesh.


Herodias is dead and Herod

No more than a severed head

On an obsidian mirror, bleeding

Sympathy and black lust.

I am your lord and master now,

Your slave, your executioner.


© Copyright Dark Poets Club

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