some days i worry

whether my humble friendship

my love for you

my faith in you

is strong enough

fierce enough

to fill you with light

nourish

sustain you

when days are bleak

and nights are deep

dark

and your demons crawl out of hell

calling your name

 

i can hear them

dancing a frenetic reel in your head

they have their stiletto heels on

i feel you starting to slip away

i despair that you will succumb

to their siren call of blissful oblivion

as they invite you to dance

with dripping claws extended

I worry

that you will throw yourself willingly

into their poisonous embrace that promises swift release

this is the lie they offer you

 

there are times when I fear

that I am the only barrier left

between you and the void

i am no heroine

i am a woman hounded by wolves

who has offered up her own throat

chosen to run with them naked in the snowy night

on more than one occasion

 

but there is tensile strength

in the fragile heart

i am built of thin steel

crystal tears

fields of lavender

i am ribboned with the scars

of a thousand whips

and i still stand

my veins sing with

the song of my ancestors

the warrior women

who painted themselves in menstual blood

girded their loins with shells and stones

before donning their shields and swords for battle

they tell me that I might not be enough

but that I am brave

true

that this a battle that i cannot

that i should not

walk away from

so i fight

 

© 2017 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All rights Reserved