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Fourth poetry and short story competition 2006

Shortlisted entry

 

The Fall

by Helen Bailey

The sky was black silk
Stars pulsed in her eyes
Her skin was blue-white milk
In Paradise

The velvet wind was warm
Gleaned from tropic sands
Her eyes omened a storm
In Eden-land

We lay on satin grass
Under Orbs of Grace
Love's joys never passed
In Eden-place

Lying in this wise
Under Orbs of Life
Rain broke from the eyes
Of Eden-wife

She wept and wove her eyes
Among the boughs above
'A Golden Orb' she sighed
'My Eden-love!'

A whisper shook the tree
A diamond-patterned hiss
One Golden Orb fell free
One Eden-kiss

She put it to her lips
And sucked the juice awhile
I caught the honeyed drips
With Eden-smile

A storm above us crashed
The silk was ripped in twain
We cried as knowledge flashed
Through Eden-pain

The sky was soured milk
Clouds stood in her eyes
Her skin decaying silk
From Paradise

 

List of shortlisted entries