fairytale

if this were a new world
and these were our first steps
upon these fabled shores
we would know
that we could not face Her armies
and survive

but in the ignorance and knowledge
of foreign empires
we advanced as if there was nothing
in us to lose
as if the fires surrounding the towers
did not mirror the fire in Her eyes

as if She did not know
that no matter how wicked our hearts
or how vigilant our minds
that Her crimson lips and ebony hair
would stand always as a gleaming beacon
on darkened hills

that could outnumber our quickening breaths
and summon us to our deaths