Swallow your dagger.
Show teeth. Check –
offer appendage into mouth
of
Doe.
She grazes your palm
with feigned indifference,
and the stars watch – breaths
bottled into shapes of eggshells –
about to break.
The Doe grins
with eyes too wide,
So, this is a deer in headlights?
and they never leave mine
as she appraises
me without
fear for oncoming impact.
Her mouth opens and she lets the words drip
from her jowls –
sphinx incarnate.
No question – just a clarification.
Confirm my identity. Pass phase one.
Grazing has turned into feasting.
I let it.