Actions have always spoken louder

for you – if you could lace them

with twenty-four carat gold,

you would.

Money bought love

dripping from the chandelier.

Rumpelstiltskin in the stable

spinning gold for you

to melt molten and consume.

A dragon protecting

its horde of teeth-cracking

promises, strung like pearls.

Medallions of self-worth

and righteousness; your belief

all that glitters

is worth every ‘I’m sorry’

in the world.

Photograph & poem: © Kristiana Reed 2019