Cassiopeia's Mirror
by Briony Dennis
Tigris feeds as you walk past
supping on your gentle presence --
and a thousand thankful voices
from the porous earth.
Green is stained blue by the shadow filled dark.
A million unseen colours are unveiled by the moon.
A cry is swallowed by
translucent gloom who
sighs a dread delight and thickens
her embrace.
Guardian of the crossways,
the boundary, where all things are still.
Vanity's price was high for you.
Taken. You shivered, naked, wet. Cold.
Salty tears ripped from your icy flesh.
Waves beat their death toll, thundering revenge.
Fifty thousand eyes looked on in spite.
Her disgrace.
Sorrow screaming in the spectre-rich night.
A thousand angry voices are unveiled by the stars.
Cassiopeia
by Johann Hevelius
In the instant all was lost, a shadow fell.
Pain grew at the sight of him, shaking with visions of Gorgophone,
of his, holding her tiny hand and yours.
Fifty thousand turned to stone.
Vanity spins forever about you now
humbled she circles your chained foot.
Your hand and his braided above the midpoint.
Gazing down, from fifty thousand stars.
Copyright © 2003, Briony Dennis
Briony Dennis comes from Hampshire, England, and is interested in exploring mythology, science and different personas through her poetry. She is currently completing a Masters Degree in Critical and Creative Writing at King Alfred's College, Winchester and plans to continue towards a PhD with a thesis in the relationship between science and poetry. The poetry of Ted Hughes, T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and Marion Lomax has most influenced her poetic expression. Briony likes to give a reader a journey through an emotional narrative, one which utilises all the senses of the reader. She has been writing poetry for 12 years.