in our dreams we dig at night plant flowers in the back garden beneath the bright moon we find a wooden box & unlatch it inside: a sackcloth & skin of snake hiding small thin bones wrapped in long black black hair feathers sticks black crosses teeth these things surround my bed as i sleep as we sleep at midnight i cast the circle i light the candles & incense we have exchanged i draw the fetishes from the wooden box beneath my bed: crucifix translucent colored stones the petals of dead flowers a black lace scarf drawings of drowning angels a vial of rosewater i begin the cassette she sent whispering poetry in a low secret voice.. i stare at these symbols concentrating on the forms i see her in my mind feel her contours inhale her scent deep within me... i whisper our secret word again & again as i think only of her imagine her here in the shadows before the flickering candlelight