a cold one between friends

a dolly for my own
to have and to hold
never to roam
never grow cold

her heart in my hand
her love just for me
she must understand
she will never be free

no chatter or prattle
her company sublime
no whining or rattle
she's left to my rhyme

and she's my reason
to dance and to play
from season to season
in our own special way

she's a doll
she's my baby
never to pall
not even a maybe

and here she will rest
there's nobody better
I think she's the best
for ever and ever

©2007 all mine


When I entered my chambers I stopped as if I had run into an invisible wall. Rather lucid so I wondered if I had actually lost my mind. I never question my sanity unless I am actually somewhat in the here and now .. I wonder what exactly that means .. I don't question my sanity often. But in this case I had a real reason.

Here was the beautiful person Athame propped like a doll on a chair near one of the shrouded windows. Just enough indirect light to enhance her pale features and barely exposed flesh. Perfect in every way. A doll? Was it a real person? How did she come to be here? Then it hit me .. the Scarab. He had found her. He had made her a doll. I glanced behind me down the hallway as if he could still be there to watch my reaction.

A seventh sense though bid me to pause and after I caught my breath I stepped further in. There was something not right. Was it indeed a doll and not real at all? But as I neared the lifeless thing I realized it was indeed what was left of a human being. This was no china baby. A corpse. Her porcelain perfection was not quite flawless. She had lived. She had breathed.

I crouched before her and with ringed fingers flicked the black lace curtain further away from her. But it was not the woman I knew as Athame at all. No. And I couldn't tell you how exactly I knew it was not her .. other than I did. It is not as if I have a prime blue print of the woman to compare. I have barely seen more than glimpses of her features and certainly nothing of what rests beneath the heavy robes. But as close a twin I could not have made let alone found. The resemblance was striking. Down to the black ocular holes ... so like her eyes had been that night. Had he done that on purpose? Had he seen her as I had?

I revealed her completely by pulling away the ebon lace, and what perfection she was. He knew how I liked it and had prepared her to details I can only guess he must have crawled though my synapses to get. I was nearly breathless with the wonder of her.

I know I should have been unnerved by it all. That he had left her here, within my chambers. That he knew so much. That she was a dead ringer .. no pun intended ... for the woman I had been trying to keep out of his way for some time. But instead I felt only relief. Relief because this was how he chose to play the game. That he had respected me on a level only I could appreciate. That this was a gift.

Our friendship was to remain intact. But what does one get a Scarab who has everything?