Image credit: http://www.hdwallpapers.in

It is said of this river that long ago year
It ran red with blood like a mad demon’s tears
and the ice from the frost crystallised with the red
like temporary rubies everywhere spread

Beneath ravaged waters all of their sins
found a place there to rest and yet to begin
to unravel the bloody demise in their wake
So temporary rubies dissolve here and break

Yet the silt gathered warmth on the cold riverbed
Metallic approximations created instead
And as the rest of the evidence wasted away
some temporary rubies still left on display

This bloody river forever now named
And for the reddish hue so many are blamed
But of the souls lost on the riverbed floor
only temporary rubies, no less and no more

(c) Helen Valentina 2014, All Rights Reserved