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

water’s edge.