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.