Ode to Kindred, The Eternal Hunters
by David Ly
Then
Death would cast its circle around
me leaving little time to decide if
the end should enter by way of
Wolf’s teeth or upon Lamb’s swift,
unwavering light-tipped arrows:
both sensed me coming undone as
I quivered being their next mark.
Bow raised with anticipation for a
surrender, silver smoke spilling
from between teeth, relentless for a
hunt. There was nothing to be done
but sigh with relief as Lamb danced
her feather-heavy arrows into my chest.
Now
I pull arrows out of my chest, crush
them between the ground and my
palm. A silver ring forms around
me, giving brief respite from the
end. Lamb laughs as I reverse
Death’s cycle while Wolf circles,
livid that he may not taste me
within his maw. Not here, not yet.
Not a step out, I remain on the
blood-blessed ground for the heal
to finish. The veil fades, I step
through, dance between arrows,
turn the hunt back onto them,
Lamb huffing, “Now, Wolf.”
ABOUT THE CREATOR
David Ly (he/him, last name pronounced “Lee”) is the author of Mythical Man and Dream of Me as Water, both published under the Anstruther Books imprint of Palimpsest Press, and short-listed for the 2021 and 2023 ReLit Poetry Awards, respectively. He is also co-editor (with Daniel Zomparelli) of Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022).
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