misunderstanding art

We lived together once.
We flocked together like black birds
In the sublime— our shapeless love,
Our formless portal brought us close
To the divine. We made desire,
Love and other sacred things,
You and I. In the forests,
We were sylphs and willows,
Petals gilt in pine. By the rivers,
We were daughters of the Nile,
Moon enshrined. We made desire,
Love and other sacred things,
You and I,

Before avarice
Slithered into our hallowed,
Laid her fibrous eggs in your willing ear,
Convinced you that our love
Was not an entity,
But a thing to be shaped, formulated,
Poked and prodded and compressed
Into paintings, into nebulous rituals
Of blood and ink, As though
Our love were something to be fastened
In a sculpture or forced into a poem,
As though my soul
Were something to be owned...

To attempt hegemony
Is an unforgivable sin.
I let your fingers slip from my grasp
And watch your eyes fade to black.
To you, who would grieve my spirit,
Who would have me be your doll,

My retribution is silence.

You scour the earth in search of meaning.
Where once the trees sang, they are quiet.
You scribble furiously, searching for answers.

My retribution is silence.

You've finally built the Tower of Babel
Only to look down
And see blood.
Your outer darkness is my malice.

My retribution is