**** Little Red Gypsy Queen **** Poem by Alejandro Torres

Have you forgotten me
So easily
My Gypsy Siren
Between foreign beds?
Under another's sheets?
Where could you be?

When once
I would have sworn
I had a home
In your heart
Did you let another in?
Do they fit
My clothes?

The unpolished breast plate
I mounted on the walls
To protect you
Do you remember?
Because that beat up thing
Was my heart
Has another done you the favor
And taken it down?

The dented pieces
I left around
To guard you
Words I gave you
To keep you safe
Have you let another
Throw them away?

The sword
Over the small hearth
That housed a tiny flame
All I could envoke in you
That was all you'd give
For all the love
I gave

Treacherous Darling
With a twinkle in your eyes
Did you let someone
Snuff it out?
Did you let them replace it
With a raging flame
You never let me make?

Or are you walking
Through a fruitless December
During the middle of May
Like I am
Have I misinterpreted
Your red cape
And like a frenzied bull
Run at you in rage
For nothing?

My Gypsy Red Riding Hood
Tonight I'll be the Big Bad Wolf
That takes them all out
With one huff and puff
To reclaim you
All to myself
Again

Glowing eyes
To entrance you
Flared nostrils
To track you
Sensitive ears
To listen
To your rapid heart beat
And the undertones
In your midnight calls

Cries to the moon
Caused by the beast
Unleashed at the possibility
Of losing you
Darling Dear, don't you see
These claws
Were never mean't to be used
To harm you

I'll lick the scars
Til the skins perfect
And pale again
My Little Red Gypsy Queen
Don't set me free
When I call the cage
Home
No one will ever understand

Fairytales or reality
Nor the frightening complexity
Of a soul that connects

Me to you