January Bonus Content: Hekate and Her Ghostly Retinue

Image courtesy of Lucas Albuquerque on Unsplash

serpent-hair

tiny hisses forked tongues

iridescent greens and blues and purples and such reds

gown of mist and moonlight and earth-deep shadows

barefoot down the road

puppy in hand

(left at a crossroad shrine

suffocated

favored offering)

dogs circling her legs

yipping

barking

running ahead and back

circling running again

and the ghosts who follow

uncounted

a river of pain fear denial

angry 

hungry for the life never lived

now never to be lived

howling in anguish

answering howl from the dogs

the puppy whines in her hands

serpent-hairs rise and hiss tongues snapping

and the ghosts are silent again 

for a moment

[Written by Rebecca Buchanan.]