XLI. I Come From Blood

I come from blood.

Blood on blood on bone I come,
From rivers of blood I come.
My momma’s daddy and my daddy’s daddy
Were soldiers in the World War.
And likewise, their fathers before them
Were soldiers in the Great War.
And my daddy was a soldier
In a war that was not his own.

So blood on blood on bone I come,
A son of the Human War.

XL. Rope Woman

The goddess a braid she wove, and it fell upon her back.
Of the braid each strand she wove was made of all that is:
Of joy and sorrow, of victory and defeat, of light and dark.

There it rested upon her marble back, growing every epoch.
And from time to time, a new strand was intertwined:
Of children, of new life, of rusted love, of dark demons.

And the weight of the braid wore heavy upon her head.
And from time to time, she fingered it where it lay:
And in its weight she felt a weight she could not bear.

The goddess, a braid she wove, and it fell upon her back.
Of the braid each strand she wove was made of all that is.
Until the day the braid lay lame where she lopped it from her back.