Among The Ruins

Beauty rests
In porcelain skin with ruby lips,
Perfection painted 
In the slant rays of morning 
To hide the scars from weapons wielded
In the dark of night —

Sharp edged words 
Honed to cut deep,
Glancing blows 
From daggered eyes —

Add another coat of paint
To try to patch the shell
Before it cracks,
Alabaster to hide the brackish trails;
Wine to dye a frown 
Upside down

Her cries mute,
Her sobs, prisoners
Locked within her throat,
Brittle and parched, 
She falls into the unfamiliar image
That is her reflection,
And there she lies shattered,
Silence scattered
Among the ruins  


Janet Reid
july 2008




  
Awarded by Poetic Constellations ~ Dawn