* 𝙲𝙰𝙿𝙸𝚃𝙾𝙻 𝙳𝙰𝚁𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶

SHE  ,    RADIANT EVEN IN DARKNESS  ,      and  o ‘  how the stark walls threaten to suffocate                       (    what are you  ,    if not wild    &    free  ?    a caged bird with wings beating against the gilded bars  ,    a savage thing begging to go home    )                       a storm    /    a hurricane    /    the force of the ocean trapped inside a box    &    left  ----    an effigy to be forgotten as time mulls over itself  .    she is quiet  ,    like the moon  ,    a silvery glow that passes over everyone silently    /    a divine thing  ,    a holy blessing gone unnoticed                      (    the light in her mouth is a reckoning  ,    the stars that burn her skin light the dismal halls around her    )                        but revolution demands pain  ,    and blood  ,    and sacrifice  ----   and in the name of her father she will put a blade between her teeth    &    name herself death if that is what it takes                          (    you are so beautiful  ,    and yet so untamed  .   even koschei would be proud    /    even the baba yaga would be proud    )

MONSTERS MASKED BY BEAUTY  ,      adorned in precious jewels  ----    painted in the red of dead roses    &    the greens of crushed beetles    /    extravagance is taken in the name of greed  ,    to be beautiful is to call death to your very lips                       (    and she  ,    an artist in the name of the grim reaper  .    how tenderly she holds these sacred bones between her fingers  ----    her presence a cataclysmic event    /    the world trembles in the wake of her light    )                          the capitol buzzes around her  ,    for she is an unknown beam of light  ;    a womanly shape in a shallow pool of water  ,    something forgotten as soon as it is seen                        HOLY PRESENCE  ,    DAUGHTER OF THE SEA                          what dismal faces pass her by  ----    (    my father was one of you  ,    my father’s soul died in that arena    )                        ❝    my    dear  ,    you    look    ravishing  .    ❞                      voice is tender as bird song  ----    death reaped woman with darkened gaze  ,    fingertips sweeping aside stray glimmers of hair                      ❝    i’m    so    sorry    your    makeup    artist    was    too    ill    to    help    you    tonight  ,    perhaps    too    much    partying  ,    i’m    afraid  .    ❞

DUST GATHERS IN HER LUNGS  ,     moon maiden    /    you were not made for this earth                      (    sea’s tenderest daughter  ,    the dry earth cracks    &    weeps under your feet    )                       the dirt clings to the hem of her garment  ,    and her heart begins to break in her chest  ----    caught only by the ferocity of her rib  -  cage  ,   salvation in the starlight that burns in her mouth                       (    and how can she ignore her father’s stories  ?    the way they etch themselves into her closed eyelids  ,    the cruelty of the place she was born  ,    the monstrosity of greed that paints itself in the white    &    crimson of her mother’s features ?    )                        ❝    you    must    forgive    me  ,    this    is    my    first    time    outside    the    capitol  .    ❞

RADIANT AS THE MOON  ,       more tender than dove’s wings    /    her hand over his heart                        (    i listen for it so tenderly  ;    i listen for it’s familiar whisper against my pale cheek  :    i’m alive  ,    i’m alive  ,    i’m alive    )                         SHE IS HOPE’S TENDER DAUGHTER                         as savage    &    hardy as the ocean  ----    she is a sea maiden who weeps over the moors  ,    a spectre of starlight fallen to earth    /     a sliver of her divinity swept away by greedy hands                       (    she weeps for what she has never known  :    for like calls to like  ,    and the cull of the sea within her is suffocating    )                       ❝    be    still    now  ,    star  .    the    more    you    jitter  ,    the    longer    it    takes  .    ❞

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