Ellen Taylor

“How much of our minds are made of darkness? The gaps between knowledge and impulse. The blank, vacant spaces between neurons and cells. The empty feats of nothing that hang from each thought.”
― Ellen Taylor, Said the Crow

“I refuse mirrors," the Fairy King said. "I refuse them for you, and I refuse them for me. If you want to see what you are, look into the tide pools at dusk. Look into the sea.”
― Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning

“Where is our soul? I wonder, as I watch over your body. If I were to cut from your throat down to your stomach – if I opened your bowel and pulled out your guts – would I see it? Where could it be?”
― Ellen Taylor, Said the Crow

“Give me, you said, on our very first night,
the forest. I rose from the bed and went out,
and when I returned, you listened, enthralled,
to the shadowy story I told.

Give me the river,
you asked the next night, then I’ll love you forever.
I slipped from your arms and was gone,
and when I came back, you listened, at dawn,
to the glittering story I told.

Give me, you said, the gold
from the sun. A third time, I got up and dressed,
and when I came home, you sprawled on my breast,
for the dazzling story I told.

Give me,
the hedgerows, give me the fields,
I slid from the warmth of our sheets,
and when I returned, to kiss you from sleep,
you stirred at the story I told.

give me the silvery cold,
of the moon. I pulled on my boots and my coat,
but when i came back, moonlight on your throat
outshone the story I told

Give me, you howled
on our sixth night together, the wind in the trees.
You turned to the wall as I left,
and when I came home, I saw you were deaf
to the blustering story I told.

Give me the sky, all the space
it can hold. I left you, the last night we loved,
and when I returned, you were gone with the gold,
and the silver, the river, the forest, the fields,
and this is the story I’ve told.


"Give”
― Carol Ann Duffy, Rapture