Disclaimer: Kai is not mine, she belongs to KayJay, for whom this was written especial like. :) Neither does the other guy in the poem, who is tentatively owned by Marvel but with this incarnation leased out to KayJay on an unofficial basis. Anyway, enjoy.

As lightly as a breath of wind,

She drifts o'er root and under branch..

Her footfalls soundless, falling soft

As leaves upon the drying grass,

None have heard her passing; she hunts.

Sudden death on velvet feet, she

Whispers by, ghost unmemoried

And unremembering, pastless,

Her only recollection that

Of spirit-breaking torments and

The agonizing loss of self.

And yet she fought, and fighting still

Bends her life's time to her choosing,

Unable yet to give away

Hard won control of life and mind,

Even into love's gentle grasp,

For endless fear of treachery.

Fearing nothing, (but yet afraid),

She builds a wall of adamant,

Her heart and soul and mind about,

That none may enter in to harm.

That love and trust are also barred,

She accepts, as safety's price...yet

Sometimes now...in the darkest depths

Of night, when the cool air whispers

With her lover's near unheard breath,

And she lies, lapped in his warmth,

She wonders just a little if,

Were she to let down her guard, and

Let crack her walls of adamant,

If, perchance, in chill pain's stead,

Tender joy might tiptoe in to

Twine her trembling heart about

And all her hurts sooth soft away.

Still she doubts, and pays no heed, to

Silent midnight's soft temptation,

And yet... perhaps... the day may come,

When she may lose, as did her love,

Her strong defense of adamant,

And find that in the losing she

Is stronger than she was before.

End