“Eros and Apostasy” by Shannon Walker

Falling through the flaming skies
Burning like a needle in a vein
Suspended? Shimmering, my eyes!
Numb and shaken my hours wane
and twist on a gilded chain
swinging from a jealous star.
And all the joy, even the pain
is a fragment an aching scar
across the heart of a dream, far
Eternal spirits listening
Stay the ruthless scimitar
Let her pluck this vibrating string
Until those far off embers fade
And I lie frozen in the shade
Of a tiny porcelain figurine.

For more poems by Walker, check out FIVE Vol. 1 No. 6.