Faewilde Sestina

♦ Thomas Beard ♦

I was in the Faewilde once

I gave the faeries there my mind

And they stole it, for a flower

I was told that if it should bloom

I would have fortune’s blessing

And safety from the darkness of death forever

You have not seen forever

Until you realize more than once

That you have lost your mind

But the mind is like a flower

It comes and goes, dies and blooms

And such a death can be a blessing

The day after I received my blessing

I felt as though I’d slept forever

To a stranger’s voice I woke at once

But the voice was only in my mind

I looked over to my nightstand, to my flowers

And in a thousand colors they had bloomed

Never now have I met a bloom

That did not sing praise of my blessing

And now I hear that song forever

All the un-voices singing at once

The tempting whispers in my mind

Persuading evils out of flowers

I have no mercy left for flowers

No blood to spare for thirsty blooms

I have not a man’s, but a faerie’s blessing

A private taste of the forever

That I thought I wanted, once

As a feverish flower born of a dead mind

Gentle forever, steal my mind

Plant it, water once, and watch it bloom

Then feed my blessing to a flower