"When death reached out its hand,you should have cowered. When you felt the flames of hell licking..."

“When death reached out its hand,

you should have cowered. When you felt the

flames of hell licking at your insides, you were not

supposed to draw closer to the fire.

I watched you disembowel the Earth, saw you pluck

flowers from your mother’s garden and gouge

your fingers into its open wounds,

trying to pry secrets out from the soil.

Everything green started to shrivel

and die when I entered the meadow, but you didn’t

flinch away; instead you kissed me voracious,

like I was something dark you’d tugged

out of reluctant soil.

I wanted your hands, still caked in dirt,

pressing into my naked back.

I thought you’d understand me. Both of us

wanting what we shouldn’t. I know your mother

must have warned you about gods like me.

Tell her I am not a selfish lover. Tell her how

I kneel at your altar and crush the berries

of your hips into wine. That I worship you.

That we spread each other open like flowers

blooming in the night. You wanted to see

what paradise looked like drenched in moonlight,

so I brought you home with me.

When you stood before the gates of hell,

all the beasts lowered their heads

and bowed at your feet.

Everything I have belongs to

you — my wife, my queen.

You are so much flesh and blood,

so much heaving, pulsing, breathing life.

You make the death in me tremble.

I am forever yours.”

- 'Hades' | Anita O. (via deeplystained)