Heartsbane Poem by Katrina Harms

At the edge of love's desiring
past the verdant blooming rows
Is a shaded rocky thicket
where a fickle flower grows.
'Heartsbane' is what he goes by,
and his cheeks are pale as chalk
A crown of blackened petals
o'er a cold and supple stalk.
Tho' sweet enough he seemed to me,
tormented, too, and dour-
A lonely hunger I once knew
possessed this pallid flower.
And so, despite the telling signs
of other loves' decay,
I stepped out of my garden gate
not distant for to stray
'Come to me, ' was his bidding,
from those smold'ring eyes, he pled-
'and know the fiery pleasures
of a darker love instead.'
He had me with a dusky glance
he had me with a sigh-
I withered in his thorny clasp
my courage barren, dry.
Where was the strength I'd come to know,
those roots which held me down?
I'd left them in my garden
where my true love could be found.
And with what vigor yet remained,
I fled that swarthy vale
Longing for my true love's arms,
a greener shade of pale.
My heart was where I left it,
though prudent now, and wise-
Delirious no longer for those
black and starless eyes.
I sometimes see him o'er the gate,
in mesmeric repose
Suppressing silent longings
for a wound which will not close.
And from this careful distance,
never harboring a doubt
I know the grass is always greener
til you've seen yourself without.