In some cultures, loyalty extends far beyond the fair or rational, but no one controls what happens after tradition is satisfied:
Burnt Offering
(The Virtuous Wife)
This suttee
is easier to bear with eyes closed.
She falls upon his burning pyre,
puts out his flame,
grateful for short rituals.
The pyre,
the bone,
ashes on the sheets.
He cannot touch her.
She is air.
She floats his breath.
She tracks his carbon
down the hall.
She walks
out to the Avenue,
wearing sheerest black
with nothing but a cauldron underneath.
Her fire.
She picks a stranger
dusted by the road,
leans him against
shadows
in the tall grass,
spills her steam,
lifts into
penumbra
above shaded hill.
The prompt today was loyal.
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