midas and medusa

in the beginning- you turned 

everything golden, with your lips

and soft touch

for a good while- 9 months give or take-

we glittered without even trying

the glint clinging fast to skin

the summer days the best

of all, so bright,

hopeful and unashamed

but in winter diamonds look

hazy and dull

no sun to make them glow

and the heaviest rain in years

washed all your glitter and gold

down leaf-clogged drains

a canvas left in the garden-

all your colour seeped out

into the cold soil

frantically I tried to hold you

to gild ourselves in love again

put emeralds where your eyes should be

but my mouth

became a serpent’s tongue

and my touch bone cold

suddenly your gaze turned stony

the stone spreading down, down

a beautiful frowning statue

after that, you refused to touch me

even looking at me was too much

there were no jewels with me for sure

so I picked up the pieces of 

flecked gold you had left behind

and whispered to snakes for company

perhaps you are out there now

making another woman

golden