Sacrifice

I saw you last night

with the halo of the streetlight

barely brushing your form

tinging you with golden holiness

You moved with your usual grace

through the night

like one well acquainted

and I felt suddenly a stranger

watching you from our window

I did not look away

but reached with one hand

for the switch and with a breath

submerged myself in the dark

closer to you.

You moved down the drive

and stopped before your seeming shrine

to bend with solemn intent and steady hands

a careful priest reaching

against the smooth temple wall

to press and transform

opening the holy cavern.

It took you to your knees

in an easy reverence long practiced

but I watched your hands shake

drawing forth your slender wand

sliding it deep into the gap.

Your head bowed over it's translucent length

and touching it to your lips

it grew golden and heavy

some blessing swelling from the holy

towards your hungry soul.

You filled a glass

and raising it high stood

to upend the chalice

pouring its glowing contents

to the shattered grass

and the green burnt away to gold.

There is nothing stranger I have seen

watching you siphon gasoline

like some holy tithe

against the road that calls you in your dreams.