Vestal Virgin

*Vestal virgin: A young unmarried woman whose duty was to keep the holy fire burning in the temple of Vesta (the goddess) and she was executed (buried alive) if the fire went out, which meant she had had a love experience.

A humming tune sounds through the night
An echo of delicate music fills the vast temple
Shadows sway along to the crackle of the fire
Morphing as it dwindles and grows

The beauty of a Yucca faintly appears
Lighted by the mystical dance of the flames
Porcelain skin of a fist-full of flowers
Lethal needles surround virgin beauty

Distanced eyes prying beyond
A dark cluster of wheat uncovering
Blurs of silver glittering secretly
In the wings of a magical moth

Gliding forth unto her heart
A graceful touch sends it shuddering
Their souls are clamped together as one
She refuses to be driven into vulnerability

Yet he asks for more, greedy for love
For her to leave the fire exposed to die
And awaken the ashes of his hidden passion
Or she will be forbidden of the needs of the heart

With the spate of events eating at her heart
She glimpses to her fate if she followed her emotions
And falls to the pit of her fate as she traverses
Her judgment is cleft, her post abandoned

Dancing fire fading, pungent with treason
Thunder a sign of the goddesses rage
Winds follows in blows of heavy ashes
Burying the passion of the lovers beneath