Sorrow Sweet by Kaila Gallacher (Lucent Dreaming Issue 7)

she’s sorrow sweet 
serpentine saviors see 
a scarred, scared,
silly, little girl

prey for stealthy sacrament,
she won’t be missed
will be savoured
delectably simple minded
her sacrificial skin—becomes silk soft shame,
she, they claim; stroking, slithering, stealing
but she, a simple soul, holds a softer strength 
one that endures

after sacrifice, slithering
snakes flee
striking wagers with any devil 
to hide in shivering sheens
sin sweats, stalls, spills, alone 
serpentine saviours are stalked

stricken by shame
encased in delusion
while she, sorrow sweet, escapes 
into songs of solace
she rests, slips from
the serpent’s curse
for the soulless
she knows
were human once too

Kaila Gallacher lives in Toronto, Ontario and has been published in the Northern Appeal, in The Artichoke, an online-student-run magazine out of York University, and in the Soapbox Press’s Anthology Light. She is currently working on the Human Animal Anthology, which is a collection of art and writing on the topic of human and animal relations. She’s spoken at York Region’s Take Back the Night March.

Browse issue 7 in full.

Lucent Dreaming is an independent creative writing magazine publishing beautiful, imaginative and surreal short stories, poetry and artwork from emerging authors and artists worldwide. Our aim is to encourage creativity and to help writers reach publication! Subscribe to Lucent Dreaming now, support us on Patreon and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.