At the silver borders of night, when
Stars are scattered coins across a velvet
Sky and the moon glows sovereign and sublime,
They come, twelve sisters in their satin shoes.
Noiseless as ghosts, they glide through glittering groves,
Bound for boats to ferry them across the rippling
Lake into the land of Faerie.
They come to dance unfettered,
Until their shoes are shreds and
Starlight dissolves into dawn.
They come in emerald silk and silvered cloaks,
Fingers flashing ruby rings and sapphire stones,
Pearls threaded through unbound hair.
The sisters come without a thought toward
Peril, buoyed by risk and
Arrayed in enchantment.
Inside flame-lit halls, ethereal music plays.
No stray thought disturbs; no desire intrudes.
And though they spin with princes across
Cool stone floors,
They dance only for themselves.
Deborah Sage is a native of Kentucky, USA. She has most recently been published in Eternal Haunted Summer, Literary LEO, Fairy Tale Magazine, From the Farther Trees, the 2022 Dwarf Stars Anthology, Amethyst Press All Shall Be Well anthology for Julian of Norwich and Eye to the Telescope.
Image: "The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces" by Elenore Abbott
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