Her Perfume, a Poison

by an unknown lover to Queen Elishannah*

Her beauty struck me with a violence;

like a thief, she seized my heart.

Eyes, mirrors of midnight;

I have died to my own self and now live for you. 

---

*Her name was Elishannah Queen of Alduria, bearer of the pole-blade, keeper of the Old Book, and destroyer of the Three Kingdoms. She crossed the Sira Desert, borne upon a pillar of flame, to cast out the Enorinites, the Lumians, and the Mene people. 

What began as revolution rapidly turned to tyranny and from tyranny to cleansing. 

Elishannah’s hands were washed in blood and it was with blood that she purged wickedness from the Three Kingdoms.

That wickedness included her own.

This poem was a part of the Shades of Night Anthology. For more, click below.