Maria and the l ily The lily was black. And the angel adorned with heavy armor. Whose words sounded a declaration of war. This would be the battlefield – for attack His gaze directed, beyond the window into the dancing desert listening from the street, the womens' voices and laughter. Echoing from – as billowing white sheets waved high on rooftops. The flow of everything impeded nothing And for a while, she forgot the angel which called on her to stand for all that she stood Her stance, here nor there, would matter not Yet she knew the battle would rage festering under skin ravaging a'waste crimson deep like the apple while the worm devours – savors a lesser creature without name burrowing yet darkening, beauty's face. (From “The Lost Goddess”, 2023) (translated by Ginger F. Zaimis) A N N A ...