Lady of Fire and Virtue

Girl with hair of bronze
sleeping in a nightgown of firestorm
on a bed of copper and zircon

How dare you sleep so soundly
knowing that men will crave
the wealth of your moonstone skin?

Girl with lips of rubellite
frowning with cheeks of garnet
beside the coast of fool’s gold

Don’t you know that your flame
attracts the most repulsive of moths
lured to devour your virgin warmth?

– inspired by Sir Frederic Leighton’s “Flaming June” (1895)