The Vow of Frozen Time
by Alexandra Seidel
Vous êtes etoilée he says, you are enstarred. Rivervoice, moonvoice, starvoice, I am forever compass-bound toward you. The cloudheart wants to go on this pilgrimage, for pilgrims kiss the stars. The cloudheart has no voice in a cacophony that buried even rain in chatter-noise. Vous êtes le rêve vivant he says, you are the living dream. Stealer of nights, somnambulant inkwell that writes on my soul! The words will never dry, the words will stain forever. The starheart shines comet-bright, burns strata in my eyes, scorches my lashes and burns burns burns like fire on my tongue. Speak, it sparkwhispers in my ear, speak speak speak, the voice is yours. Let's dance together to this cold rhythm of charade you and I, ice for shoes, a glacier the ballroom. Beneath the caramel of his words the ironheart is born. It beats like bells that don't know sound, beats with the noise of falling snow, and I shall be your snowbride; I shall be white, pale and paperthin, nothing more to be but ice in the distant light of a star that never rises. And let us drink together these cold syllables of harsher stars that sting my ears and leave my tongue a wound frozen in the ring of diamondtime.
Alexandra Seidel is a writer, poet, and daydreamer. She is also the poetry editor for Niteblade, which is awesome (both the editing and the zine). Alexa's poems can be found at Mythic Delirium, Strange Horizons, Stone Telling, and elsewhere. You can follow her on Twitter or read her blog.
When asked of what poem the word "cherry" immediately makes her think, she replied as follows: "'Cherry' makes me think of 'A Poison Tree' by Blake. While I do realize that apples and cherries are not the same, it still fits for me, which is probably a very boring answer, but you had to ask, didn't you?"
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