Cassiopeia

I have seen you up there, pinpricks embroidered between splattered stars
no doubt you are a swirled celestial blush up close, all blood pink
and pluming violet, but from here you only look like tiny freckles

and I have heard your story, night by night - how you dared
to anoint yourself, to bathe your crowned head in dark oils and sing yourself sacred
how you dared to name your body exquisite, exalted, ecstatic,
to drench your kingdom in the glory of your skin

I have heard how they punished you, cursed your vanity
strapped you down to your throne, and hurled you into the stratosphere
they said you should spend half of eternity upside down
cheeks bloated and blue, eyes bloodshot
just to sap the elegance from your skin

so I have imagined you slung in the sky, hung up by your knees
spinning slowly with your skirts tangled into your hair
and you are warning us girls on the ground
not to be too beautiful
you are telling us not to ask for too much
not to say our own names too loudly, for fear
that you will wake one night and find a field of us
all strung beside you, like sparkling dewdrops on a spiderweb