DROPS OF SCARLET

Ruby's Tiara

She places me on her weaves of black in delight

Her almond hands graze my silver band in pride

Her smirk stares back at us, darkening the crescent walls

The broken glasses shine as I glow blood-red in her thrall

Sapphire gowns flow against the winter wind over solitary strides

Holding the crystal potions she kept hidden inside

My gems enjoy the circus she displays with her peony smiles and honeyed wines

And sparkle at my ringmaster's show that ends with a magnificent, dreadful sight

One poisonous drop in the nobles' stained glass chalice

A  cheer of sweet revenge laced with a trickle of malice

I glimmer at the coffins of mahogany sheltering the cloaked carcasses of her puppets

Her ebony daggers piercing under my rays of ruby amongst the nightly spirits

Her chants take me back to the first of these several occasions

When I was stolen by the mistress amongst the lights of celebration

Where I sat on velvet chairs and watched her father claw at his throat

Choking at her berry pies baked with venom he happily swallowed 

Now, you may call my duchess the lady of lunacy and danger

But you don't hear the screeching screams in the scarlet prison she calls a chamber;

You may call the aureate nobles symbols of misery and innocence

But you don't hear the treacherous whispers they conceal under the mist of ignorance;

And you may call me a guilty spectator as an accomplice in her sins

Yet, who am I but an audience who finds pleasure in the strings of chaos she spins?

One day, I shall regret my blaring silence;

One day, these jewels shall repent witnessing her tranquil violence;

But no tears will be shed under my mistress' service,

And hers will be enough while I serve my purpose.

-Grisha. S