The Goddess Walks

2005. The poet, in this ode to Abstra, reflects on a lover yet unmet. Note the deific metaphors.

the goddess walks in her garden

unaware that the sun is waiting her whim,

grim moments lending impetus to joy,

a royal smile on lips known to taste tears.

some where in the distance, where dark

gives way to grey and time holds sway

only for those foolish enough to mark it,

a troubadour plays a sweet and barren ode.

she shall serve as sacrifice

when forgotten gods of love and lust

call for their avatar,

surrendering her heart

to rule a land measured only

in how far I will walk in dreamless sleep

between now and the end of all things,

making words into wonders for as long

as there is language for a song.

for sacrifice empowers dreamers and lovers,

that which hovers between birth and death

a baby's breath in colours resplendent,

transcendent o'er all things, even pain,

as the power of light and shadows

weaves threnodies into amomancies

and nothing is regent but her will.

for I have waited this long for this song,

this song of stone and clay and fire and water,

this song of memory and hope.

praying for transfiguration as an act of will,

left behind as the kill of a nosferatu's rage.

laying page to wound to stem the life

that shall not serve as Ouranos' legacy.

William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.