"She is my Home"

by C. Ikpoh


I walk over purple hills; velvet grass tickling my soles as each blade bends in unison to the sonic pulses of my spirit exiting through my feet. It is then the eternal flame in the sky illuminates a golden goddess before me. Her hair is black as rich soil, giving life to my eyes as they gaze upon its cascading effect. Our world spins as we stare at the other, the sky exchanging the flame for the beacon. Her skin gleams olive until an eclipse sets her flesh on fire, leaving it bronzed. My breath is invisible. I suffocate from the gray horizon depressing me as I realize there exists a place she is not. Her love is forever though. It is tangible. I can taste it: a sweetness of a nectar unknown.


She is the object of the universe. She is the galaxy birthed with earthly hands. The goddess extends them to me, to walk in paradise beneath the red waters at the edge of the hills where orange fish kiss your toes, leaving them green and ripe with life. My fingers intertwine with hers, slaying the night, reviving a silver heaven. The scent of strawberries drift off the sea breeze. I can taste her nectar as the crimson ocean evaporates before us into the air, falling down on our crowns creating a blue fountain in the sky. Her cascading hair ripples down her back and over her face. Her brown eyes pulsate with flashes of light as they speak to me, saying, "Who you are to a queen is all that matters in the world." The wind drapes me in silk as black as the cosmos, knighting me before the Creator, making me worthy of her presence. I now walk amidst her kingdom.


White rivers appear beyond the yellow trees of gold and honey. Her smile rivals the color of the current, enchanting me with each grin. I become hypnotized by her laugh, enthralled by her majestic voice. I bleed magic from my pores. I am a slave to the goddess' mysticism. We count to 11 repeatedly, singing in perfect unison as pink snowflakes fall from the clouds and burn the leaves. The trees birth arms of fire reaching to the afterlife to hold the hands of angels. I whisper to her, "You have rescued me. I am free." The goddess blinks, mimicking my conquering the handicap of blindness which ruled my heart for so long. Again, her laughter captivates me. Not the purple hills, nor the red waters. No. The spirits of the fond and envious alike witness it is her that rules all time and space. I murmur meekly, "There is no escape from paradise."


She smirks and replies, "Your voice is electric. Play me a song." I talk as we journey for miles and miles over a diamond path. My stories sing of an age when wolves howled and birds chirped; when sleep was foreign to the night and peace reigned amongst the damned. The goddess dances before me, revealing scars etched into her skin from a life when she bathed in starlight. She notices my admiration of them and says, "Your gaze will etch deeper into me, for your eyes well with unbridled passion." My heart weeps with an unparalleled love, leaving tears of blood streaming down my cheeks. "Come home with me," she commands.


Over the purple hills we travel, the blue fountain in the sky watering neon life into us. I glance to the horizon once more. The blue rain crashes into the red ocean, splashing anarchy everywhere. "The heavens impregnated the seas, and born was the earth," I said.


"Indeed, and as was such, so shall you enter the house of black." The goddess repeats this three times before a cabin appears before us in the mist. She waves her hand and the door opens. "I know you will," she confides in me. It is then I walk through a threshold of flames. Untouched, I emerge on the other side as the door closes behind me. The chaos which plagued my life is no more. I stand in the dark and inhale strawberry scents, tasting her nectar. I am intoxicated in the blackness surrounding me. Then, I hear the goddess laugh. Her smile illuminates the room. There she is, my beautiful enigma, welcoming me home. Her fleshly body draws me in, and I do not hesitate. My eyes etch eternity into her soul. "Love has made this moment, my king," she tells me. "You are a god."


"You have rescued me," I reply as we disintegrate into one another. "I am free."