by Stacey Forbes
I am told my body is a temple, but
today I feel like a cage full of mourning
doves – the kind that are sometimes released
for a wedding, then caught and caged again.
Only love will set them free, and only
for an hour or so, but if release comes
when the green earth is humming and ripe
with desire, it feels like a life.
This moment will not last. The couple,
looking up at eggshell clouds and
believing that doves mate for life,
won’t last either. Sometimes I am a cage.
Sometimes I am a flock of doves flung
into the sky and scattered. Ask me why
the cage is empty. I will tell you
love was always mine to lose.
Photo by John Duncan on Unsplash
