Her Hidden Garden

In pursuit of her fortune
In chase of her fame
She neglected things once golden to her
Dismissed them as gilt, until they gathered dust
In the darkest recesses of mind, where innocence no longer lurked.
Locked the toothed gate to her hidden garden
And when the poison-roses oozed
Sugar tempting sickly-sweet
She curled violet silence round the thorns
And swallowed whole the key.

Now by circumstance made young again,
Understands nothing, hurts at everything. Soft cocooned and unprotected
Blur-eyed, tugs aside the velvet veil
Primal longing for the shadowed womb.
Sweet forbidden scents well up to her
Honeysuckle, echoing rich-deep
A vial of crystal hue cracked open
Something delicate, inside, breaks
And pulls her from paper-dust pageworld
Where she had once been,alone,
Encaged behind closed covers.