I walked invisible
among the trees.
I listened to their
flowers weep;
a sound much
like my failing
heart–all white
and filled with grief.
You never came,
no word,
if words were possible;
so I turned back
and climbed the
lonely road to
a place where
gods were waiting.
I held them off
the silver moon,
the starless sky,
the scent of jasmine
and found my fate
inside myself;
a darker plain
than most
but home to
all I love—
paper trees,
a sanguine sky,
a city by the