The End of The World
By Virginia Carraway Stark
I woke up at the end of the world
where the ocean meets the land
and we long ago forfeit
our dominion
Lying on soft green grass
with giant bell shaped flowers
On the greenest bowers I had ever seen
Dangling overhead
So tangible I could hear
The faint ringing of the flower bells
In a realm not far away
Blood stained my thighs
My baby had been torn from me
An old crone held what had been mine
And before I could rise
Or utter more than a scream
She dashed my child into the sea.
So distraught
I ran to the edge of the cliffs
where I could the rocks below
my child dead and smashed
a child I would never know
while the mad hag cackled at my loss
and vanished like a wind
I went to throw myself over the edge
and follow the child
I had never known to a fate the same
An arm grabbed my shoulder
And stopped me
Even as I felt the slippery grass
End
And little pebbles sprinkle down
On the little body below
Whales swam and the bells
From another realm
Cried out in tinkling voices
The death of one of mine
And I wept
My hands and thighs covered in blood
An obelisk stood to mark the spot
Labeled “The End of The World”
And my love kept me from plunging down
All the world was in mourning
Except for the warmth of the sun
on my bare shoulders
And the waves of the ocean
And my own heart beating
And the arms of my love
The red sand of the island
Mingled with the red blood of my hands
And I cried for another loss
One that I had never even known I had had.