"all this time
the river flowed
endlessly
like a silent tear
(to the sea)"
--sting

     "love is the law"
     --the suburbs

light, lighter--
the falling snow makes the night
lighter--
thicker and heavier now, it drifts down like soft fat feathers
slow and
     slower
it makes this night
as bright as day

everything i see through half-lidded eyes
is
gray and white
even the lightquencher
is bright with snow

she carries me in her arms stronger than saplings
i am light
i am almost
     nothing
oh she who devours planets and suns
oh she who brings the blessed

   darkness

      (lightquencher!)

she cradles me like a baby
as we follow the river the river the river
that still tumbles deadly blueblack under its own

     Night Ice

we shall follow the river
we will walk by the river and leave the lake behind

{and in my dreaming eyes i see the soldiers my soldiers
marching beside us in the riverbed under the Night Ice
and they are as BLACK as a murder of CROWS the soldiers
those warriors i danced with they pace alongside us as
we hunt the hunter our honor guard our escort our JUDAS--!}

o my savior!
my lover my angel! i whimper--

and loa lightquencher curls me up closer,
takes me to her heart
she who will save me and herself
she who is the

     darkness, blessed

(i put my dreaming fingers in her side murmuring i believe i believe!)

we stalk as the crow flies
   we move with purpose
   with hunger and longing
      and the ice shelters the blueblack flow of the river

and i am carried
in strong and loving arms
i want to cry for shame
   that i am bound--
   that i am weak--
      that i hunted the hunter once and

         failed

but the lightquencher frees all prisoners
she looses what is bound
she is my savior my sister my beloved

we stalk the hunter
we will find him
and i must tell her how to destroy him
for i KNOW, i have the secret
i know how to defeat an enemy

{how many soldiers have i defeated
how many hard men
how many killers and hunters
through the ages how many
they who cut off the breasts of women
as they lay weeping on the battlefield
they who threw children
to the starving dogs
how many have i destroyed
and loved?
--LEGION}

     {[(and how many have bound&silenced me?)]}

for she shall have the benefit of my wisdom
she shall learn from my mistakes

(my dreaming lips i touch to her heart her breast and whisper
i adore you i adore you and you shall not die but live forever!)

and as the crow flies
we follow the river
(with our escort of soldiers moaning and creaking beside/underneath)
(my dreaming body as light as a feather)
(blood roses faded far away)
we follow the river covered in

     Night Ice

to a new lake
--a skating rink for merry children
the last few now leaving with their parents
the last few now leaving because
the snowfall
is too
heavy
and they can no longer play.................................

we pause at the edge of the skating lake
i open my half-lidded dreaming eyes and look into
loa lightquencher's evening-starlight-pupils
and we know
the hunter
is
near--

we kiss
once, briefly
and it is cold
our lips tremble as our teeth knock together

(the secret, the secret! my kiss says to her-- THE SECRET!)
(does she understand me?)

we know where he is
and he is waiting
for us
(for the lightquencher)
he has laid his lines
in the pooling-butter-light spilling from the
warming
shed--

no time to nourish ourselves
no time to prepare
the battle is enjoined--NOW
     as loa lightquencher carries me into the warming shed

the hunter holds ice knives,
     gleaming sharp and promising release to prisoners
he smiles and smiles
the brightness and the warmth of the shelter melts the iciest heart
his trap is tender
and
sssssssssssssssssssssharp!

so fierce is she, my sister my angel
that i am dropped
and all my dreaming lightness is gone
as she pounces on the
smiling hunter with knives like orange-yellow flame--

all my soft/snow/light/ice dreaming is gone
my eyes are clear
my heart is strong
and while i cannot speak i yet can sing
before it is too late
and the lightquencher is skinned and all her darkness

     spilt--

i open my mouth and sing

~love is the law
love is the law~

(the hunter's smile FREEZES)

~love is the law
love is
rose red and snow white
gilded gold and liquid bright~

and the lightquencher smiles
smiles to swallow the SUN and the MOON
she turns to the hunter
(he who is frozen by my crimson-lipped song)

and slays him with a kiss

his light,
   spills:
      yellow
         orange
            bloody red--

she slays him with a kiss
and swallows him
     WHOLE

for love is the law
love will be our law
as the river flows endlessly
and darkness falls
blessed
be--

(lightquencher and jewel embrace in the warming light of the shed)

(the Night Ice is all melted, pooling in liquid heat steaming)

copyright 1995 by jewel (Julieann M. Brown-Micko)

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