To Hades

(In the winter

I pour you a cup of tea

Scented with mint.)

I, your willing Persephone…

You, my long-lost Hades…

A barter of gifts.

You force my mouth open

With your pomegranate lips.

You feed me the seeds of kisses six.

Your captive am I--

In the perfumed chill of your underworld

You are a quilt of silk.

I hide my blazing shame in your chest

Forgetful of Ceres' spring.

What are flowers in the face of desire?

What fires blossom in the cold?

No old romance can tear me asunder.

There's pleasure in eventual surrender:

The loss would be to plot a flight.

King of my Underworld, you part my thighs

In the guilt of perpetual night...