Siren
Anonymous

She comes to class in heavy makeup.
Her auburn hair gleams,
Copper-like and bold.
Her grey eyes smile
Like rays of the sun.
Perhaps she is over-dramatic.
“Fake.”
They say she looks like a vixen.

The boy asks her name.
She whispers in his ear.
Smiles spread on both.

They told her it would be fun.
And like all the young nursed by their mothers,
They’re eager to fly
They fly to the man inside the tunnel.
Green for green.
Green that makes smiles flourish
And make bad memories distant.
Her smile now the Cheshire cat’s,
vanishing within the instant
Only to appear again in hindsight.

Green burning paper orange
Green making her prosperous
Green welcoming the unwanted attention.
They slip her the potion
Supposedly the one that puts her
to eternal sleep. And so
She slumbers, until red lights find her,
The sound of loud sirens
Screeches, hatred
Glass breaking.
Screaming-
The deed has been done.

The siren, they call her
as if she can’t hear the mockingbird
Crying as they called her
“Slut.”
Redeem. Redemption. Save yourself,
She said,
And so that night she comes in
Grotesque, green armour
that reveals more than it protects.
One more, she said.
One more.
But he found her first.
Behind the door,
the man lands a blow.
Her green withered to ashes,
She has nothing more to offer.
Her gleaming copper is cut.
He takes it away
To make a statue from her virtue.

She comes to class in heavy makeup.
Her head drooping,
Nearly raised and emotionless.
Her grey eyes reveal
Blue and songs of melancholy.
Perhaps last night was a mistake.
Muttering curses,
she covers her face.

At least no one can see her scars.

The boy looks at her.
He can no longer see
the girl whispering a secret.
There was only a red-haired siren,
Waiting to lure her next victim
to satisfy her sorrow.