War Goddess

by Janie Hofmann © 2008

I plan my hunt with avid pride,
here are the rules all shall abide:

lamb bites wolf and grows horns
deer shun buds and eat the thorns

fox butchers the frothing hounds
rotting corpses lying in mounds

all rosebuds swell with fire
neither man nor child heeds their sire

those asleep on dull swords
strung up by steel cords

their intestines placed on my loom
wishing they had never passed the womb.

At dawn I chain their charred nipples
to a cross on a lake that ripples

with bile, maggots, bones and black flesh
as my appetite desires food fresh.

To this I come with much good wine
for on eves of victory I dine.