A). Burnt Offering

Burnt Offering
(Sonnet)

You were my one desire, Renown, the prize
for which I lit the sacrificial fire
on the unguarded plane between my thighs;
made of myself an altar and a pyre.

A heart I'd tried to give but no-one cared
to take, life as yet unlived, joy unslaked,
all these the flames consumed. Alone I stared
at dreams of the glory for which I ached,

while on it's own flesh and blood the fire fed
turning to ash the need kindled in vain.
I understood when my desire was dead
that times once passed cannot be lived again,

so when the fire had burned my body through
I laughed and flung my charred remains to you.

*****
c. Copyright by Anjali Paul.