I worshipped you—threaded
thousands of bay laurel garlands
to string at your temple,
                                          slit the throats
of sheep & goats at your merry whim,
spread warm blood
              with my bare hands
across the stone of your altar.

When you with your golden lyre
gave me
               this gift—
sending serpents
to flicker the future
into the hollows of my ears,
I swore to you
the curves of my body.

But visions
foresaw my home
                        in fatal flame,
so I barred you forever
          from my bed.

And you, God
of light, of song,
of poetry,
spat directly into my open
mouth—

A poet and educator, Tara A. Elliott’s poems appear in Cimarron Review, Wildness, Passengers Journal, and Ninth Letter, among others. She serves as Executive Director of the Eastern Shore Writers Association, and Chair of the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference. A former student of Lucille Clifton, she is a recent winner of Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Award for Literature.