We just watch
While the world slowly burns
Wishing for rain to cease the fire

Whilst others wonder
Whose body lay where
Which tomorrow they won't see

We sit in our mundane
Worrying for trivial things
While the world slowly burns

We don't think about the worst
Wolves won't be blowing our houses down
Why should we care?

We aren't the ones who mourn
Who stand in rubble and waste
Where once stood our homes

We just watch
While the world slowly burns
Watching wolves prey upon the sheep

They say as you grow older the friends and lovers you held close to your heart drift away. They never say how slow it is. A phone call every day becomes once a week. Soon just a text or two, then nothing in unnumbered days. Months pass by until you realize you've lost track.

We used to be written in the stars–
I swear it.

And I can't decide; were the fates miserable to give us so much time only to take it away– or merciful to let us feel it at all?

I. Drawing spell

I fill my jar with
sugar and honey
sweet and sticky
not to trap, rather
a lure to draw

I grind my herbs
add my crystals
my charms, pink glitter
and all my hopes

I write those wishes
on a bay leaf
draw my sigil
and charge with intent
I place them in my jar
of all things sweet

sealed with red wax
so our love can come
and last

II. Love prayer

On my altar
Aphrodite sits
surrounded by offerings
along with
a bowl of water
clear and clean
that lays in wait

I add salt and rosemary
hold my bay leaf
and set it alight
asking Pythian Apollo
and Zeus Melikhios
to cleanse and bless
I drop the burning leaf
into the water
and wash my hands and face

Now purified and cleansed
I kneel
burn my incense
and sit
palms up to Olympus
I close my eyes
and send my prayers
to Aphrodite

III. Love, the waiting

Intentions sent
to the goddess

In her hands,

I lie in wait
love dangles

She gives
and she takes

So we may love,

or we may lose
but in all love

We will learn.

I tried love again
I put my best smile on
I pushed you from my thoughts
I let you go,
As if it was my choice

I turned off my anxiety
Pretended I'd be fine
Put a blind fold around my heart
Like the eight of swords
I lied to myself,
Like it were the right thing to do

I put on my favorite skirt
My favorite necklace and shirt
Did my makeup how I liked it
I dressed up my doubts
Looked in the mirror
And I felt pretty,
But I didn't feel me

I couldn't breathe
My heart took off it's blindfold
And begged for a second thought
When I had none to spare
I'd already decided
To leave my love for you
In the past where it belongs,
As if it was my choice

I cut off the cord that went
From me to you
That lifeline I held onto
Like a security blanket
I severed it,
Like it were the right thing to do

I went on that date despite myself
Smiled politely, talked sweetly
We shared stories
He was nice and he was kind
He called me pretty,
But I didn't feel me

I said before that I wanted
To fall in love again just to prove I can
Instead I learned just how hard it is
To sever my ties to you,
As if it was my choice

A siren call beckoned me
Through waves of endless murky blues
And over crashes of distant storms
Sweet and deadly like belladonna in ambrosia

Milk and honey dripped from her lips
As she cried out to me for a reply
Soft like silk carved into marble stone,
Strong like magic from the aisle of Aeaea

I was tempted, nearly ensnared
By that beauty somewhere near
If I followed that voice out to sea
I knew she would be the last thing I'd see

How could I do that to my Penelope?

So the siren sang her enrapturing tune
And I tied myself to the body of the mast
I would not be lured to my doom
Elysium will have to wait, I'm coming home

We were a photograph once
Not torn, not blurred or smudged
We were altogether pictures
Put into broken frames

We were creatures crouching
In dark corners
Trying to remember
How it felt to be whole;
Human, connected

We are the fragmented remnants
Of stolen things, of broken things
But I still like taking our picture out
From time to time
Just to remember that
It was real

We were there at the start