The Song of Merope 

Sleep pulls me with the urgency
of a riptide. I struggle to kick

free from tangled dreams, stand damp,
trembling beside the bed. Your body

maps my absent contours; starlight 
seeps through the edges

of my skin. I watch the moon 
swallow herself one last time--

even my bright sisters, 
the Pleiades pale, witnesses

to the silence between one breath
and the next. While Helios rides

I can hide nothing from you,
nearly forget my true shape.

As night fades, you call my name
and I must make the choice again.