instead you let me go
Linda M. Crate

you asked me to come,
so i came
on the magical swift wings of
the barn owl;

i didn't disappoint in being
terrifying and cruel

yet there was something about you
that brought out a softness in me, too,
i wanted you to love me the
way i loved you—

is it so wrong to ache for a magic
you know would dance well with yours?

we could've had forever
had you let me,
but instead you let me go.

Linda M. Crate's poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has ten published chapbooks the latest being: Hecate's Child (Alien Buddha Publishing, November 2021).