We lived together once. We flocked together like black birds In the sublime— our shapeless love, Our formless portal brought us close To the divine. We made desire, Love and other sacred things, You and I. In the forests, We were sylphs and willows, Petals gilt in pine. By the rivers, We were daughters of the Nile, Moon enshrined. We made desire, Love and other sacred things, You and I, Before avarice Slithered into our hallowed, Laid her fibrous eggs in your willing ear, Convinced you that our love Was not an entity, But a thing to be shaped, formulated, Poked and prodded and compressed Into paintings, into nebulous rituals Of blood and ink, As though Our love were something to be fastened In a sculpture or forced into a poem, As though my soul Were something to be owned... To attempt hegemony Is an unforgivable sin. I let your fingers slip from my grasp And watch your eyes fade to black. To you, who would grieve my spirit, Who would have me be your doll, My retribution is silence. You scour the earth in search of meaning. Where once the trees sang, they are quiet. You scribble furiously, searching for answers. My retribution is silence. You've finally built the Tower of Babel Only to look down And see blood. Your outer darkness is my malice. My retribution is