Hewi-Manod slips off her Ruby rings,

collected over time, given in earnest

in hopes of marriage proposal, no suitor

ever realising she was already with child

but not yet laden with drought and looks ahead

to the start of Dog Days and the spoils of war

that she will soon bring.

 

Whisper slowly, war is coming…

 

The blood courses through the two bodies with the eagerness

of a rattlesnake caught on drifting sands,

one eye on survival, one upon the gleaming future ahead