by Clara Blackwood
Set in white gold, the many-faceted blue gemstone shimmers
in fascination. Given as a token of endearment, a sacred bond,
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust—the ring’s secret twin
belonging to his Priestess.
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust—the stone shimmers, casts
an illusory spell—the world of promised light, of nights
within the temple space, before the marble altar
where they would draw the ring’s symbols, trance-induced,
and later meet their gods in dream, and sometimes, outside themselves.
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust—when it was the opposite—
the ring’s saturnine nature bearing down, to shatter and reveal
the world through breakage.
— from Juniper Volume 3, Issue 2