Metamorphosis

skin as fresh as an egg
she wanders the gardens like a blind goose
here and there
bouncing from flower-bed to shrub
bright eyes drinking colour

unbound but petite,
her feet crunch gravel to life
and bees buzz in her wake,
striped bridesmaids carrying an invisible train

crossing through gates of green green hedge
our nymph's eyes are held by marble -
white-weathered and grey veined
he stands impassive, impressive

a gasp catches in her throat
like a swallow in raptor's claws
and fingers kiss the contours
of the demi-god,
mapping muscle and the curve of hip-bones,
feminine palms warming polished surfaces

sightless as a tree-root -
an unconscious intoxicant,
his marble head remains unmoved.

no notice does he take
of her tender ministrations
or when she leaves and
blows a kiss, gentle as a hummingbird's song,
dancing her retreat

regular as the cockerel's morning crow
she returns to pay court.
love's tincture in her caress,
every inch of stone gifted
with warmth and the wish of life

one night she comes
like the scent of honeysuckle,
welcome, with the promise of beauty.

bold under Selene's light
she steps up, up
into inanimate arms,
yielding skin pressed
into immodest artistic rendition

her face flushes,
pulse quickening like the first burst
of spring storm-rain                                    
and egg-shell hands clutch at
Olympian face
“make me yours, my cold love,
I will dance in your arms, faithful as fish to water
and look to no other but you”

day follows night,
the bees still orbit their mistress
who is cold as a river-bed
and still as a church-steeple.

a metamorphic deity in white
her lover's mouth cruel like autumn thorns