RECOMPENSE

RECOMPENSE, by Gerri Leen, art by Karolína Wellartová

 

 

Golden mare
No rope shall hold you
Now that you have
Run your last battle
I will take your killer’s horse—
A lacking replacement
But willing with the right touch—
As our enemy bleeds out
From a hundred small wounds
A lingering death
As compensation
For your loss

An unequal exchange, though
His life for yours
He targeted you instead of me
Rode over your still heaving body
And called us barbarians?
His blood runs thin over
These steppes
And as it flows
I sit by his dirt-brown mare
Telling her tales of you
So she can know what she must become
We watch as the vultures scatter you

Your killer’s body will rot whole
I will throw stones, not
Let the birds have him
So he won’t arrive
In the afterlife before you do
It’s my last act for you
So take your final run, golden mare
And may we someday meet again

 

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Gerri Leen is a Pushcart- and Rhysling-nominated poet from Northern Virginia who’s into horse racing, tea, collecting encaustic art and raku pottery, and making weird one-pan meals. She has poetry published in Strange Horizons, Dreams & Nightmares, Polu Texni, NewMyths.com and others. She also writes fiction in many genres (as Gerri Leen for speculative and mainstream, and Kim Strattford for romance) and is a member of HWA and SFWA. Visit gerrileen.com to see what she’s been up to.

Karolína Wellartová is a Czech artist, painter creating images predominantly with the wildlife themes, nature studies and the literary characters. She’s inspired by the curious shapes and a materials from the nature, but the main source still comes from literature. Check out more of her work at her website.