The voice of the moon
woke me

I pursued its silver song
through the dark forest

and found the Lord of Delight,
Krishna, waiting

When he breathed into the flute
even the leaves recognized the god

and shivered
in the bright blue glade

I danced for him,
my bracelets’ soft percussion
joining his melody

My hair came undone in wet ringlets
my breasts loosened
from my dress

And still I danced

Uncaring, I knew
that now the glade trembled
with women dancing
for the Lord of Love,
a forest of Gopis and Krishnas

And still I danced

even as the flute slipped
from Krishna’s grasp

His blue hands filled themselves
with my breasts, my waist

his blue-black fingers whispered along my neck,
the jungle of my hair

And still I danced

I heard around me
murmurs of love
knew more than saw
(for my eyes held only Krishna)
that each Gopi embraced
another Krishna,
who was my Krishna
and yet hers alone

And still I danced

Found his blue lips
kissed in them the flute-song
kissed the autumn leaves
kissed the moonlight
the wind
the moon itself

before the song extinguished itself
and I found

I danced alone

[Sandi Leibowitz is a native New Yorker who writes speculative fiction and poetry, mostly based on myth and fairy tales.  She has long loved the beauty of the pagan goddesses and gods, in all their many forms.  Her fiction has appeared in Jabberwocky, Shelter of Daylight, and Cricket.  Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in magazines such as Goblin Fruit, Mythic Delirium, Apex, Illumen, Niteblade, and Eternal Haunted Summer.  She sings and plays classical, early and folk music with Cerddorion, Choraulos and NY Revels (among other groups) and does indeed own (and poorly play) a beautiful fish-skin drum.  She fell in love at first sight with the Danube River from a plane going from Prague to Budapest, and fondly remembers a gorgeous night-time champagne cruise on that river after a folk performance in Budapest.  She loves to swim but does not wrestle except with the occasional Erroll-Flynn-look-alike, and then only in the most friendly fashion.]