Memory came to you,
Tangled in the Aspen wind
Blowing
through the Great Divide
Riding on forgotten roads,
Past fading
autumn fields.
Dreaming in the dark, you followed,
Back to a certain house
with
Myriad windows tall and wide-
Within she awaited
you,
Midnight falling into day.
Just at sunrise, she let you in
As outside the lace
curtains
Hummingbirds danced to Mexico,
Mingling with
Monarchs
And the distant cries of geese.
October maples smoldered red that night,
Two dark scars upon
her back
She never let you touch,
Blossomed out against the
moon-
Wings you'd never guessed at.
Laughing, she leapt skyward,
Leaving you surprised,
Then
from the darkness
She swept you up-
There was no time to
scream.
Upon the wind she carried you,
Wings booming like a sail,
High above the clouds
Your shadow dark upon their backs,
The
jet stream in your hair.
She released you into the wind,
Teaching you how to ride the
storm,
In freefall she seduced you,
Wings delicate as your
foreskin
Cradling you as you fell.
The harvest moon rolled away,
The horizon bleeding pink,
Wings
now turning silken limp,
She brought you back-
Unseen before
the dawn.
You carried her smallness into the house,
Turning to close the
door.
With a rustle, she slipped away-
Into the room she never
shared,
A floor you'd never walked.
Uninvited, you slept upon her couch
The house silent all around
you;
Stormclouds gathered overhead.
Past twilight you wandered
room by room,
The kitchen clock ticked slowly.
A door creaked open as you passed.
You walked within, boots
hard-
Ringing through the shadows.
In the bed you'd never
shared,
She lay still and quiet.
November sleet hissed against the windows,
Her black-gold wings
stir at your touch-
Inviting you to join her.
"Enjoy my house
until the spring."
Comes silently from her lips.
Boots off, you lie down beside her
As the first snow falls on
All Saint's,
Laughing to yourself-
Her velvet wings enfold
you;
Not all fairy tales are lies.