i.

A hand reaches
from the myst
and bids me forth
to the darkness.
He tells me not to fear
"You are safe," he murmurs.
The pit of my liver
reminds me otherwise.
Candles,
statues,
and books
fill this moldy chamber.
My whisper
searches for him,
but I recall
only his shadow.

ii.

She lay frozen
in limbo
when I first saw her.
I tended
to her wounds
and redefined her muscles,
for she had none.
She gazed at my broken flesh
with eyes
that pierced my stomach.
At that moment, I knew
her heart was full of tears
and not to fear her touch.
She is both Aphrodite
and Artemis
and I am nothing
if not her slave.