I Didn’t Know He Was the Devil

These prompts are from Two Sylvias Newsletter:  “How Does Your Garden Grow?”-flower prompts!—bleeding heart, devil’s backbone, cupid’s dart, angels’ trumpet, fairy bells, lamb’s ear, hen and chicks, sneezeweed, ghost pipe, earth star

I didn’t know he was the devil until he pulled me close.  We were dancing and I ran my hand down his back.  I swear there were spikes on his spine.  I felt stung.  Blood beaded on my fingers trickling down to form a heart shaped stain on my palm.  He noticed my surprise and grabbed hold of my wrist.  “Looks like you’ve been caught by Cupid’s dart,” he huffed.  “How lucky for me.”

I ignored all warnings after that—the Angels’ trumpets, the Fairies’ bells—they tried to reach me, but I was too far gone.  His hands were as soft as lambs’ ears, warm and smooth, working their way through buttons and zippers.  God only knows knows how far I would have let him go if I hadn’t been attacked by sneezeweed.  I don’t know where it came from but my nostrils itched and my eyes watered, my nose was running like a faucet!  I could barely crawl out from under him fast enough, coughing, choking, and gasping for breath.

I escaped through an open window because I couldn’t find a door.  I landed on a messy expanse of unkempt clover, dandelions, and stringy Bermuda grass.  The lawn teemed with roving brown and yellow hens and chicks, clucking and chortling.  They were a grounding sight; I felt free at last of the devil’s feverish hold.

Suddenly I smelled tobacco—not smoke, but the green scent of the tobacco plant—my father, so long ago, his breath on my face as he leaned in to hug me.  

Ghost pipe, bless me.

Earth Star, redeem me.

I am worth so much more than this.

Photo by Camille Cox on Unsplash