in (the kingdom of) wales

[An Ode to the Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner]

I am a stained glass window. At the hour

of union, my soul shatters in the dark of

night amongst elfins and all that lurk under

the haze of great trees deep in the forest.

I am, mayhap, a changeling. A feather placed

in a sea of rough scales and wrought iron. For

all the winged creatures and crows’s nests, do I

belong in any one?

The cold feasts on the fleeting summer air, and

the tide turns tables in its reckoning. The land

will still lay scorched, and like an insect,

never rise.