Daphne Transformed
I was born in sweat and
traces of blood,
then grew young and tall and smooth,
lips like apricots. His desire was relentless
lips like apricots. His desire was relentless
as he stalked me through
mortals’ fields,
and I was trapped in velvet
skin, sweating shame
beneath his fetid hunter's breath.
beneath his fetid hunter's breath.
Today I’m unassailable in
my leaves and ivy chokers,
replaying days of
freedom,
storied nights of goddesses
and men….
It’s been so many years since
he transformed me,
and no one dares to touch
my cracking bark.
Books will tell you I was
beautiful, then saved,
but I know the curse of beauty, how I’ve changed,
that tears are merely amber and what myth is.
Alexa Intrator
June 2012
Sculpture by Renée Sintenis, 1930,
courtesy of The Sackler Gallery
Cambridge, Massachusetts
