For love
she followed him from the sea
gave up her voice & jeweled scales
tottered on split tail
walking highheeled on knives
to his castle on the crags
For love
he made her his queen
placed a crown of shattered glass
on her smooth brow
hung shards of diamonds
around her soft white neck & wrists
For love
her blood flowed in streams
to nourish his land
The soil fertile,
his subjects reaped her harvest
For love
she prepared his meals
with her own two hands
flavored it with her tears
& supped, smiling, on ground glass
For love
she opened her soft white thighs
& he of the dagger hands
& eyes like shards of mirrors
took her in the darkness
& she bled on silk sheets
For love
She gave him a son
which they cut out of her
The kingdom rejoiced
as she smiled wearily
in her castle of barren stone
For love
she was finally bled dry
& her lord found another
younger, more vulnerable maid
to be his queen
For love
she crept to the edge of the crags
& leapt into the light, becoming
translucent, rainbow foam falling
to the embrace of the maternal sea,
where there are no
knives, razors or shattered glass
though the ocean is surely made of tears