Consecrate me with dead leaves,
weave me a crown of cobwebs,
cloak my weary shoulders in mist & moss –
today is my birthday.
Tonight I am king of the forest.
My scepter is the limb of an old oak;
my ministers are poison mushrooms.
I will make war with the moon.
My coat of arms is a chrysanthemum,
the proudest of flowers.
Tonight I will unlace my harlequin’s mask
and make wishes on cattails instead of candles.
Lydia Friedman is a nineteen-year-old time traveler who once went on a blind date with a marble statue in Vienna. She lives in New England and can be reached by howling into the void, or at www.crookedbutinteresting.wordpress.com.