I light a cigarette with a t light.
It is all that she has.
She reaches across the nest. I say,
I’m gonna dig myself out of this castle.
She sways, impassively, but to me it’s
more like a swinging gavel.
I brace. Hold my breath.
Nights of before force to mind.
I hear the crickets chirping.
But she nods. She nods.
She nods.
It was all that she needed to know.
She said yes.
It was oats and barley.