Zodiac

Sprinkled in sage and soil, honesty drips 

From the mouth of Saturn like golden honey,

Gates guarded by the tenth house, the cleaved 

Hooves of a fabled sea-goat drumming under

The dome of Capricorn’s viridescent arbor. 

Crystalline waters pour forth from the mouths

Of a thousand fallen gods, amethyst stones

Beaming from their tearful brows, resistant 

To all shape and form, Aquarius whispers, 

Voice hushed by the dying wind of change. 

The sapphire skin of Neptune glows brightly

In the moonlit reflection cast upon it, basking 

By the wayside of dreams turned to dust, drowned

In sorrow, Pisces swims against the current, a 

Fish stranded and gasping upon the cruel shore. 

Shrouded in relentless conviction, the first lord

Of chaos emerges, obsidian horns filed to deadly

Points, poised to stab, his nostrils spewing scarlet 

Fire and simmering brimstone, Aries treks across 

The blistering house of Mars, seeking a willing victim. 

Venus watches from above, cheeks like polished 

Moonstone, belly pregnant with the essence of life, 

A celestial vessel brought to earth, guarding the 

Serene homeland of Taurus, succulent and bucolic, 

Blanketed by fields of evanescent cherry blossoms. 

The duality of life is mirrored by twin reflections, the 

Third of their name, a secret lineage tucked away on 

Mercury’s shore, restless and wandering, Gemini floats 

Between dreamscapes and reality, lips laced with glittering 

Agate, the scent of lavender heavy on a summer gale. 

Bleeding joy and sadness, the moon cries for a release

From the chains of empathy, the fourth cardinal longitude 

Unraveled, poised in vulnerability, it basks upon the emerald 

Shore, a crustacean rooted to the bedrock beneath, Cancer 

Nurtures the garden that is its heart, fertile and loving. 

There is no taming the lioness whose mane flows in threads

Of silver and gold, eyes molten, an inferno tearing across the 

Universe, solar flares reaching out like talons, to slit the throats

Of their oppressors, Leo embodies the soul of the sun, radiant 

And fierce, guarding their realm with unwavering possession. 

Fingers dripping moss, a maiden clad in white peers from

Between the shadows of the sixth realm, lips pressed tight, 

Methodical and mutable, each palm cradles a piece of the 

Earth as Virgo spreads her tentacles, slicing through the 

Folds of time, searching for her long-forgotten harvest. 

Tipped is the scale of justice, replaced by a perfect 

Symmetry, sacred geometry blossoming from iridescent

Capsules of air, nature breathing in equilibrium with death, 

Libra casts outward an explosion of life, braiding ropes of 

Thorns and weaving blankets of vermillion rose petals. 

The sting of a scorpion bite pierces delicate flesh, poison

Seeping into their blackened veins, branching outward, a 

Network of cells bent on destruction, led by the counsel of 

Pluto, wrathful and aloof Scorpio completes its eighth transit,

The serpent of the divine unleashed from its putrid prison. 

At the dawn of the ninth age of man emerges a mythical beast,

A horse-warrior, arrow nocked upon his bow, poised to strike, 

Its mark buried at the core of Jupiter, swathed by gaseous clouds, 

Sagittarius materializes as a specter, eyes chips of cobalt, as 

They whisper devious nothings, carried on the backs of fire wraiths. 

Audra Burwell