Episode 144 – Chosen

Her lover 
past
opened her heart,
but also broke it.
They can’t be together 
and, for the first time since,
she feels for another.
Maybe not the same,
but worth exploring.

Her lover
past
is not pleased 
to hear of
or to scent
the other
in her heart,

but he acquiesces.

Her lover
present
has the sparkle,
the power in his soul
to save the world, as she 
places the amulet in his hand.

Her turn to restore his strength.

They lay together in the stillness,
his body warm against hers.
Slumber comes, but not for her.

One lover, or two, 
she’s always alone.
The chosen one, 
ready to sacrifice her life 
for the world.  

But what if her power 
could be shared with all women?
Join blood and hearts
to change destiny?

His shiny new soul aches,
the amulet alive against it.
The world is not ready for her sacrifice, 
but is willing to accept his.

Their fingers entwine
and flames flare up between them.
They’ve always burned hot,
but never hotter than this.

She tells him she loves him,
but he knows it’s not true.
For once it doesn’t matter.
He’d die any day for her.
At the end, he’s joyful,
head back laughing, face to sky,
as his body disintegrates.

He lost her once to death
and it changed him,
but when she came back,
it was she who had changed
and he the only one
who could comfort her.

She refuses to feel only sadness
for it was truly his finest hour,
his soul stretching up to the sun,
his last act selfless.

She finds him now in her heart
and remembers how they began 
as enemies, found their way 
through passion, to friendship, 
and a damn goodly way towards love.

And as she remembers, 
women rise up around the world.
Protectors, nurturers, warriors.
Each chosen and ready for battle.

She smiles.

Episode 143 – End of Days

Just holding her,
watching her sleep,
a century of sorrow left him.

Love for her, 
which he had spewed
loud and obnoxious for years,
now lived small
and quiet in his heart,
making him shiver.
Longing to rest 
in its arms,
but terrified to do so.

No need to be terrified,
she reassured him,
I was with you. Right there,
tender and safe in your arms.
Brought back from the brink
by your words,
by your belief in me.
Alive again,
my heart full.

No time to define
these feelings.
Only time for heroes.
They know well heroes.
Love, they know less.

Episode 142 – Touched

One last night 
before battle,
they all find love,
if only in the flesh,
and fly like kites
through the night
untethered.

Feelings float 
around the room
like butterflies on wing.
Hearts that long to sing
but too much pain 
to gain voice.

* * *

After a century,
what he knows
is her.
Strength.
Kindness.
The burden
she carries.
The isolation
she feels.

Walls that surround her,
he’s climbed.
Torn a few down.
What he knows
is her. 
What he loves
goes beyond.

Weary.
Rejected.
She listens,
asks him to stay.
Not over there,
but here.
Close.
He draws her in 
and they’re still.

In the morning,
he’s left holding a note.
Her strength renewed.
Her warmth
still next to him.

Episode 141 – Empty Places

Only see half
what I used to,
but I find humor 
in that.

So long as 
you don’t cry,
I can’t see 
what I’ve lost.

I won’t use
the one eye
I have left 
for tears.

Episode 140 – Dirty Girls

Downstairs.

A little respite
from the noise.
Lights a cigarette
on the steps,
unaware of company.
Another pair of eyes,
some chitchat 
in the dark.

Both dangerous 
in their way,
though now reformed,
they share a smoke.
Words dart
warm and slippery 
between them.

Eyes meet,
but no lips greet.
Just a little respite
from the noise.

* * *

good guys
get dangerous sometimes
and bad guys
can look like saviors 
at first glance

Episode 139 – Lies My Parents Told Me

They say creatures
without souls
can’t love, but we do.
Our love can be shallow 
and fickle,
but may span 
many lifetimes.

Having loved
with soul,
without soul,
then with soul again,
I find a keenness 
to the love 
a soul allows, 
expansive and inclusive of realms
outside the object of affection.

Love that ignites an unrest 
not easily quelled.
Love that erupts in a fiery flow
burning everything in its wake.

Perhaps my soul is for more than love now,
reaching out for life on its own.
Leaving haunted memories behind.

Episode 136 – First Date

he’s a cookie with no chips
and quite yummy
i must say

* * *

He can be a good man.
He’s still a torn man.
Not between good and evil,
but between love
and getting over her
when she’s right there
in front of him
in lace and bare skin
and asking him to stay.

He sits with her on the couch,
with the scar on his brow.
And she needs him.
She may even love him.
So he’ll stay.
He’ll always stay for her.

Episode 135 – The Killer in Me

Tea with a friend,
nothing more.
Just tea.
And a little smiling,
no more.
One drink,
then home.

But her eyes 
are so brown,
a little sad
from loss.

Her upper lip 
crinkles 
when she smiles.
I see my mistakes
in her eyes.
Then she kisses me.

Only a second.
Yet in that moment
my love disappears.

Gone.

Like I knew she was,
but couldn’t bear to see.

If we kiss again,
maybe I can live
and she can bring me tea.

Episode 134 – Potential

Most of us
are one,
even if not
“the one.”

Women bound
for great things.

Maybe 

we should all 
don capes
so the special
is visible.
But then,

isn’t that such 
a man thing to do?
A cape
to announce
him hero,

while women battle 
uncaped and 
unheralded, yet 
no less heroic.

* * *

Everyone dies. Our one truth.

Walking through the graveyard,
stake in hand, we learn lessons
of vampires, of lovers,
hands that kill, hands that cool 
our skin when fevered.

Death is an enemy who sheds his skin
and lies with you, then leaves you 
on your own to raise his evil spawn.

Episode 133 – Showtime

in the end
they’re dust
same as all those
we’ve slayed before

* * *

Reality in chains.

The girl, just a dream.
But she will come,
not leave him
to a life of torture.

(Finger to lip,
dream girl disagrees.)

Almost beaten,
he doesn’t recognize.
Love, lover, kindred,
come to rescue.
The torture was 
thinking she wouldn’t.

Shoulder, he leans.
Strong together.
Not just any girl.
Not just a dream.

This he knows
if nothing else.