True Love’s Kiss

If you are not mine
Then do not be his
Or I shall tear asunder
That chain which binds you.
He who speaks
In forked tongue
Honeyed entrapment
Foul and black —
If only I could have
Awakened you
To truth.
Alas, in lieu
Of an impotent kiss
There is only:
Bloodshed

Warfare

A red river rises to the East
And the conch call echoes through the mountains
The men sharpen their axes and tighten their bows
The women salt meat and wrap flour cakes
In the dawn, the plateau is empty of tents
In the sky, a lone falcon reels
Shrieking mournfully over the grass