The Murder of Actaeon

She stands there, her silver bow drawn taut,
back arched in furious grace.
Her nakedness gleams under the sun,
beauty so savage it echoes
through the quietude of the woods.
The flimsy human must pay.

He stands there, fear rippling through his veins,
ensnared 
in the pitiless stare of the eternal virgin.

The cavernous howl of divine arrogance
pierces through the wind's innocence
as his skin quivers,

that feeble garment of mortality.

Ferocious death is at hand,
shadows of its sprinting hooves
screaming through the moist earth like wildfire.
Nostrils flared, fangs bared,
the beasts are coming.

The awkward hug

Seat-belt firmly in place,
unmade conversations populating his thoughts
with a traffic policeman bearing down
on his windshield in a no-parking space

clusters of words jostling for attention
on the tongue’s inadequacy,
the lingering sadness of a goodbye
stealthily clambering up his back

halfway through the hug,
the lad froze

like a piece of parchment
choked by the weight of its own words.

[5:49 pm | 16th August, 2009]