Leda Burning, Immendorf Palace, 1945
        —after Gustav Klimt's destroyed painting of Leda and the swan

the SS soldier
strikes his match on Leda's bare
back—the lecherous

swan's black neck
sinks into the curve
of her ass—the flesh

quivers as the fire
follows her spine to the nape,
to the hollow, fingers

blister as the gold leaf
in her hair curls into layers
of pitch-dark roses

and the painted bed
swirls in melted hues of green
before sucking Leda's last

breast into gray
ash, soot, and sweet young
thing sighs the soldier

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Copyright © 2016 Tana Jean Welch All rights reserved
from Latest Volcano
Marsh Hawk Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission