We buried the sheaves that we carried in tow.
How tall and true will the poppies grow?
We planted more seeds than we intended to sow.
How fast and few will the poppies slow?
We pulled out the weeds, but it still grew too low.
How straight and civil is the poppies row?
We gathered the leaves, but mainly for show.
How rich the rue do the poppies owe?
If I showed you the trees and told you I know
where the fruit had been, where the water will flow,
If I took you to fields and beckoned you fro
would you grab a blade or a garden hoe
would you cultivate or wildly let go
or would you follow instead where the wind did blow?
We carried what cleaves for the grievers to crow.
How ruddy and red did the poppies glow?
*****************************************************************
"A bad boyfriend? You really can't see it?" Coyote chuckled.
"Ok," Cerberus squared up to the mirror and really looked into it. "I see...spiderwebs? Ugh how did the mirror get dirty on the inside or is it stuck in some kind of spider dimension?" Cerberus sighs and walks off. "I don't know what you want from me. While it's true I lived in and around Zion's magick for quite some time it just seemed like every time they used it it created more problems...problems like I have rn talking to a mirror canid whose communication style is vague questions. I never really liked their magick and just wished they'd pack it up someday grow old and settle down with me. Every spell they cast, every time they'd rip their soul out of one rotting corpse to reanimate another... it just made messes. I don't really care about pixie politics or whatever trouble their familiar has found. I just want peace in my life. I'm tired of hopping dimensions, being imperiled by strange sorcery and trapped in strange forms. I don't have a home, I don't even have a shape to call my own. Look at me now? I'm staring at a broken mirror that probably has evil magickal spiders on the other side trapped in the body of the Fae king! And the saddest part is this is so fucking typical. Not a first and definitely not a last. So yeah I'm sorry for not paying enough attention. Do you know what kind of weird trauma it is to always look into a mirror and never see your own face?"
"Evil is subjective, but in your circumstance, maybe. It's definitely not spiders though. It's just one very manipulative spider. She cursed both Zion and me. The web is her doing. As for strange forms you really don't even recognize your own face? It's seems you've forgotten a whole lot more than your own reflection." Coyote looked at Cerberus with blazing eyes. "From one Canid to another can you describe to me what you looked like before you were turned?"
"Into a werewolf?" Cerberus paused for a moment. "You know it's been so long since I actually looked in a mirror that hasn't magickally changed me, I don't honestly remember."
"Then how do you know that's not your face?" Coyote sat down next to Cerberus, but this time Coyote didn't reflect in the mirror.
"Because I'm not the Fae king. I'm not even a fairy." Cerberus barked back.
"Why do you think the mirror deposited you in this form then?" Coyote asked.
"I don't know. I kind of hate magick, remember?" Cerberus said increasingly annoyed.
"You know the Fae built the first mirror gates. They are a species with some of the most astute understanding of magick because it is the most concentrated component of their essence. As such they are practically immune to posession, and the mirrors they built for transport even in their most primitive function recognize Fae from nonFae." Coyote said as he began to appear more transparent.
Just as Coyote started to slowly disappear, out of the book that glowed and opened earlier Zion's voice could be heard. "Stop confusing him, Wisdom." Zion appeared in the mirror and then stepped out of it mumbling something in some early mesopotamian dialect. "I swear to all things unholy, what's gotten into you Cerby?"
"Really Zion? How much has your haphazard magickal journey adversely affected me? And don't bring up how you were able to get me out of my wolf form recently because I wouldn't even have one if you hadn't got me cursed in the first place. I don't care if you look young or old, we don't need to live thousands of years. I've just been waiting this whole time for you to decide I was enough and be happy to share the rest of your life with me." Cerberus replied exacerbated.
"Oh you still think I picked this even after seeing the curse that's on me." Zion paused to assemble their words.
"Disclosing that before we got involved might have been helpful." Cerberus retorted.
Zion reached into their cloak and produced a large mother of pearl shell. It's iridescent glow drew Cerberus in and he touched it immediately having a flashback hearing Zion's vice. "If you want to join me on this awful journey you should be advised I have a terrible curse on me that affects everyone I am close to or come into contact with. Even if that doesn't cause you to experience terrible misfortune, I am undead and dependent on hideous amounts of magick to prevent my soul from rotting like a corpse -- an event that would result in horrific consequences for anyone within a relatively large event horizon. And I'm not so naive as to think that in your plucky rose tainted puppy love by which you assume all that won't matter, that you won't later come to me bloodshot and weary, bitter at me for letting you tag along. You will come to hate about me everything you loved. My magick will irritate when it doesn't disgust you. When that time comes you won't remember this day, but I will and I will remind you that I knew you better than you know yourself. When you hear this again with my gentle chiding let it sink in that I knew you better our first day while you will have spent all this time and protest and don't know me still, much less remember. My heart may no longer beat or bleed, but you have surely broken it." With those last words tears began to fall from Cerberus's eyes. He was back standing in front of the mirror, but Zion was gone.