The Fall
by Marly Youmans
[Photo: "Winter Prison" © 2008 Van Eramos, used by permission]

The crinkled myrtle blooms
And elegance of boles,
Lavender in shadows,
A sacred grove for souls;

The orchards floating scent
Of peach for miles around,
The Eden in my mouth,
And petals on the ground;

The mockingbird at dawn
That played the nightingale
To make me dream my life
A transformation tale:

All these and more are lost
And taken from my sight.
For what? That I might shrink
In northern snow and ice?

Before the worlds were made
It was foretold that I
Would fall to this: outcast
And exiled, born to die.

Marly Youmans is the author of seven books: Valorson, a limited edition novella forthcoming in 2008; three novels, her most recent work The Wolf Pit, along with Catherwood, and Little Jordan: A Novel; a collection of poetry, Claire; and two very Southern fantasies, Ingledove set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and The Curse of the Raven Mocker. She has won The Michael Shaara Award for The Wolf Pit, and two Hoepfner awards for short fiction. A native of the Carolinas, she lives in Cooperstown, New York. For more about her work, please visit her website and blog.