Stolen Secret

With her legs folded beneath her,
Xi Ling-Shi bowed her head
over steaming tea.
The scent of boiled leaves
un-crusted her nostrils
and eased the tense curls
framing her face.
She looked up through
tree branches and leaves
to catch fragments of sky
trapped there in the
spaces between.

As she leaned back,
something small
and round and white
splattered into her cup.
She reached in to retrieve it
and it unwound at her touch.

A single silken strand
wound round and round
the smallest finger of her hand,
and at its core,
rested a strange little worm
like she had never seen before.
She gasped as a yellow shaft of light
broke through the clouds
to shine down on the worm
that had boiled and drowned
in her tea.

The empress Xi Ling-Shi
knew this ugly little creature had spun out
the silk now wound around
her delicate finger.
Glistening in the light,
the fibers held strong
even when the silk worm could not.

She knew that same strength
held within those strands
could be hers –
as she let the slick worm slip
between her luscious lips.