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The Fruits of Silence


The Fruits of Silence
by Alexandra Seidel

When the wild and howling moon rose
he proclaimed she had more sense than foxes
but what are you to expect from a piece of rock
that envies the brightness of the sun?
She was the only she-wolf who had ever stolen
stars' light, heavenly fire; of course she was cursed.
All creatures in the wood feared her, feared her shadow,
feared her scent; they said when all the stars were hidden
behind clouds, she shed her fur walked in human-skin,
spoke in human babble-tongue;
Humans made her into stories of wrongness, a woman
with starlight in her eyes that can turn hands to claws
and lips to teeth to tear a man limb from limb
for the crime of idle lust
and humans hunt all that they deem wrong.
Between them, they were like chains and like stones
and like sharp-beaked vultures to her:
every night and every day, they feasted on her tongue.
The wild and envious moon pronounced
that for the crime of tasting starlight
this was acceptable, especially as she had more
sense than your common fox; in truth
her eyes that shone like stars
made him feel as if he might lose his light like
dandelion seeds in a storm--o, this gloom of darkness!--
better to steal a voice than to fear
a never-committed theft of light.

* * *

Alexandra Seidel spent many a night stargazing when she was a child. These days, she writes stories and poems, something the stargazing probably helped with. Alexa's writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine, Fireside Magazine, and elsewhere. You can follow her on Twitter @Alexa_Seidel, like her Facebook page, and find out what she's up to at alexandraseidel.com.

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