A Narrow Escape

It started slowly,
this dove-fluttering.
Inspiring knotted tapestries
of jewel-tone reverie,
while hearts leaned awry
in ramshackle devotion.

A bird within a cage,
forgetting what it
was struggling against;
sweetly overpowered -
the bars tangled
in a jasmine vine.

Wings shredded
by the soft furor
of a desperate retreat,
pinched by a noose
of braided gossamer,
indiscernible - almost.

A flickering disguise,
the veil lifted for
an instant - feathered
head gleaming as
she hurtled upward;
whooshing through
a winking eye.


© 2002 Melissa Songer