I Am Ruby

I am Ruby.
Goddess of the moon.
Round. Full.
Transformed and soothed
By decay.
A composite of ideals.
Shaping my fears into
My mythology.
I am not to be silenced.
Awesome endurance is
My plight,
Though death plucks
Me at forty.
My left brain begins to falter,
Right brain rises and rises,
Sees beyond the blood,
The prematurely greyed hair,
The fragile mass that is my flesh.
Fresh images and new patterns
Light me on fire.
Like a dry and thirsting forest.
I love the flames,
Love the heat.
My tale is birthed,
As I have birthed babies.
Death and life dance.
Hear me.
Hear me well.
I am Ruby.
And I speak.

© Margot Van Sluytman
From Of Dark Night