desire: a sestina

by Rae Anwar

i let desire guide me

toward a vision of light,

like honey to the eyes,

only to trap me in darkness

like a sound

that can’t be heard, buried deep.

it started with a surge, deep

in my bones as he spoke to me,

unearthing a sound

like summer, sweet and light,

yet drowning in darkness

like melted chocolate, the hue of his eyes.

with coffee glazed eyes

and a bond rooted deep,

his mind slipped into mine. darkness

sat from a distance as desire led me

into the sun, as warm and weightlessly light

as his voice, the most lovely sound

to exist, until the sound

lost its color. my eyes

dipped into a new light

as the truth, dug up from the deep,

crawled out to me.

a side of him formed from darkness.

this new darkness

was of a tainted color, a sinful sound.

the image of him with another, not me,

engraved onto my eyes

as i fell from his view, down a pit forever deep.

here i stay, trapped in a void with no light

to guide me home. the only light

i knew, stolen by darkness.

i lie in a desolate space, deep

and mute. a voice without sound.

blank, sightless eyes.

the lonely company of me.

learn this from me: do not trust the light words of desire

and its eyes of deceit, for behind every smile is a hidden darkness.

trust your own sound, before you fall too deep.