by Rebecca Buchanan
look
she’s right here
she never leaves
never abandons the souls
she escorts from Gaia’s womb
and helps to birth into the world
if you look
she’s right here
at your side
torches lighting the way
Hekate
I am Terrible Hekate
I walk dark moon nights
I speak for the dead
Hear their voices.
Hekate
Deep is my delight
Great is my dread
For I have seen Your face
Thrice-Beautiful Hekate
Hekate and Her Ghostly Retinue
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 and fear and denial
angry hungry
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
through the night
forever night
never rest
neosalexandria 