She walks both worlds

by Caroline Davies

Response

She walks the red earth,

her bare feet connect to the land.

She throws a whip of stars

across the dark sky,

draws lines to join the pin pricks of light.

The gods gathered in the heavens.

Some of them went out long ago

but she summons their stories.

She stands by the tree of knowledge

bark branched against the winter sky.

She remembers the spring wind

brings warm wet rain

to make the tree bloom again.

She sings of the taste of apples,

flushed red with ripeness.

A ripple of snake around the tree roots.

Too late to notice the red, yellow, black

warning triangles.

The fruit is sweet.