Nymphs and Shepherds

Here in the forest of forgiveness

We drink bird song and eat purple pansies

We daisy chain four-leaf clovers 

and frolic around the fire at dusk

We keep our blush fresh with bleeding hearts; 

We kindle self love: 

That which creeps down from the mountains to smolder this romance

Are met with such palpable inward affection as to drive

A deaf ear to music. 

When they find us, we

Greet them with tea

And flower crowns. 

We nymphs are so aggressively infatuated, 

We give the blind eye to paint

We are flawed creatures, 

raw uncut diamond. 

Our hair is tangled, 

Our legs unshaved, 

Our nails untrimmed, 

Our stomachs untucked: 

The wind calls it sails. 

The bushes call them leaves. 

The tigers call them battle-ready.

The forest calls them love-handles,

We are risen from the ashes 

Knowing everything we are 

Is the reincarnation of gifts

We are the gifts we knew we could be.