WELL DONE! Poetry - VISITATION by Royal Rhodes

Visitation by Royal Rhodes

You told me you were an angel, the

first night I met you on the balcony

overlooking the city's carpet of lights.

Later in my room you shyly revealed the

elliptical scars marking your back where

once were wings in rainbow hues.

Their absence caused me much wonder like the

Y-shaped scar on your torso -- but there were

things we never mentioned.

You kept changing -- the green like jade in

your eyes, and your crown of dark hair cut

short to look like a boy's at times.

When you were angry your fingers felt

as cold as the frozen lake deep in hell as you

said: Cross your heart and hope to die.

You said the smell of blood repelled you. When

you took me into the silent wards you stopped

outside several doors and wept.

The last night you stayed, you blindfolded me as

we fluffed the sheets like snow angels with your

cold hand set on my colder heart.

Royal Rhodes is a poet and essayist who lives in a small village in central Ohio. His poems have appeared in a number of literary journals in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. He especially loves to read the works of the ancient Greek and Roman authors.