POTN 4

POETRY  |  FICTION

Moon Goddess

by Wendy Rathbone, art by Janet DuPuy

Imagine I am night,
imagine I am lingering moonlight
touching your throat and loins.
I take you to me
with weightless arms,
with arms and fingers like
sculptured silk, silk caught
in the tangled branches of
a dying tree.

The moon kills only those it loves.

I will gather you
like lost night. I will hold you
so tight that not a drop will spill
of life, not a drop of blood.
Let my pearl-tongue lick you
clean, let my tongue steam
soul from body. You have known
the yearning ­ let it come, let
my moon-body take you and
form stars with your thoughts.
Let it teach you to suckle the universe
for the fuel you need. Now I
hold you. Now I touch the life at your
lips and kiss you into infinity.