Lily

🥇 First Place—Kodah's Strangely Art Unofficial Challenge. Read and enjoy all the remarkable writers' entries here.

_________

thorned asunder by a prick

tangled love

turned

a tangoed waltz

two left feet

into two left feet

right about the time

I stumbled

into your bloody sacrificial charms

trailing tiny ghostly footprints

through the white weeds

of a failed union

.

bliss is not this

.

down I went

trailing your lead

I succumbed, naive and young

whirled into your rabbit hole

.

once you were my darling, Jack

until you turned

red-eyed

frightened stiff, a joke

caught

pulling out of some other lover's hat

.

once words were exchanged

you disappeared

into my beating chest

to stew a while

in your own juices

.

I lost

myself

a smear of pigment

blushing your shame

for you

.

I own it now --

too little

too late

.

you said the wrong name

before your gods

at my altar

and still

I kissed a bloody lip

.

we accept the love we think we deserve

.

Rose,

another's name,

shattered the vase,

leaving me

a Lily in the graveyard

__________

Copyright © 05/13/2024 by Christy Munson. All rights reserved.

Author's Note: Written (too late) for Kodah's "Strangely Art" Prompt unofficial challenge