and through cool and cruel vermilion lips
the web is woven.  the huntress sips
a dark liqueur.  paradise and paradox,
the shadow forms only with light and walks
away, dissolving in the dark.  to taste
the softness with a hunger not in haste
but in reverence and focused passion held
and commanded by a mind set against a legion swelled.


copyright William F. DeVault (wfdv)