Subtext Warning: Not really. These poems do imply a loving relationship between to women, how you decide to interpret that relationship, is up to you.

Author's Notes: This is the second installment of poetry belonging to Xena and Gabrielle. My favourite Xena poem out of this lot would have to be 'Light', and Gabrielle's, well, that would have to be 'Misguided Spirit'.

Feedback: Love to hear what you think, I'm at archaeobard@hotmail.com

Shall I Close My Eyes?

Shall I close my eyes and find you?
Or will I meet only the mist of my own creation?
You do not understand the solitude that sweeps over me
Each time I see your face.
The face of what I keep from myself.
Yet that is the burden,
I do not wish to plague you with it,
This casing of lead that is my heart.
For only in the dankest of terrors can I escape my lot,
With you.

Xena of Amphipolis

There is a Silence

There is a silence more heartfelt than the moon's embrace.
I feel it now,
Against my cheek, my brow, my soul.
A silence more deftly vast than eternity.
It will never wake to the joy of love.
For love is a warm and vibrant entity,
Something that is lacking in hate.
Although hate can spring, burning as enkindled woe.
Sometimes I feel it, deep within,
Burning, scorching my heart.
Sometimes I would be a blackened corpse,
Smouldering with vengeance.

Xena of Amphipolis

I have Lost

I have lost something,
I do not know where it has been misplaced,
Yet I cannot understand this ache,
This emptiness.
Do you, warrior, know where it has gone?
It has evaded me these many years and I begin to surrender myself.
Have you taken it?
Have you stolen a part of me without my consent?
I can think of no other.
Please, return to me my will?

Gabrielle of Poteidaea

If You Fight This

If you fight this,
It will only grow worse,
This intermittent rambling of self salvation.
If you take pause to breathe and gain your mind,
You will see that there is nothing but me.
Surely you cannot deny the truth of the matter?
It is clear.
For one so pent up with logic and determination
You cannot find a solution to the questions posed.
Try, and you will only curse yourself.
There is no other explanation,
Deny it to yourself and you will fall.

Gabrielle of Poteidaea.

Wandering Soul

Can a wandering soul find forgiveness?
Where is the muse I so wish for?
I have been deserted and I know not why.
If I write these words are they meaningless?
Do they disappear on parchment leaving only the stain of my tears?
For I may as well write with tears,
Judging the worth of my words.
I am humbled.
Where is the pride,
Where is the ambition,
The strength?
Where have I gone?

Gabrielle of Poteidaea

You

You.
You are nothing.
I cannot afford to tell myself any less.
If I let you in,
You will surely slam the door
And trap yourself with me.
Now that would be cunning, devious and disdainful.
If I let you in,
I will crumble.
I cannot hide any longer,
Yet I will brace these walls with more strength
Than has previously been imagined.
You.
You are more to me that life itself.
If you follow me
I cannot abide the fate you have dealt.

Xena of Amphipolis

I Cannot Even Mourn

Am I so unaffected by death that I cannot even mourn?
How many have I seen die?
How many have I killed?
Yet this, this body, lying wasted and useless
Is meaningless to me.
Have I become so immune that
I cannot even face the glory of life?
What is this terror that floats disembodied
Towards my fate?
There is no life,
There is no passage to eternity.
Here I have seen a powerful act that has no worth.
What is it for this being to forfeit salvation?

Xena of Amphipolis

Light

Somewhere there must be a light brighter than yours.
If there is not, I am lost in a wallowing well of sin.
If I cannot gather more hope than I see in your eyes
I may as well be sunk in a thousand winters.
Surely, I cannot deem you worthy,
Surely I must surface to something other than this pain?
I would rip my beating heart from my chest
And hold it firmly in my hand to see you smile.
Does this blood that runs hotly through my fingers banish your hate?
What must I do?
What torture must I endure?
I am afraid.

Xena of Amphipolis.

Misguided Spirit

Oh you touched and misguided spirit,
What sordid thoughts are the harbingers of pain?
What judgement has befallen you so harshly
That not even weeping arrests it's torment?
If you could hear my voice in your darkest shame,
Listen to it now,
For I speak truly to your heart,
With blankets, warm with love,
I cradle your soul,
Holding fast to your piteous woe,
That you shall not be overcome.

Gabrielle of Poteidaea.

Can You Not Hear?

Can you not hear, my heart,
Though I scream, shoutingly against battlements?
Where is the light of lost love?
Could I have been so blind,
And in all my hastiness
Swallowed the fleeting hope of freedom?
If I suffer the swell of pride,
It has not been of self,
Yet for you.
Now, as blackened fingers outstretch wearily
I have no more silence for you,
No more fear, no more hatred,
No more desire than what is in my soul.

Gabrielle of Poteidaea.

What Sad…

What sad and malcontent Fate
Has led me to this?
This ocean without end,
A cloudless sky.
Torrential sorrow walks,
Sleepingly through night,
And I am here,
Alone.

Xena of Amphipolis.

If Tonight…

If tonight, my love, you should happen to see a tear, linger on my eye,
Do not fear for me, as I am wholly known among terror.
It is nothing but a slipped memory,
As beasts, with sliding tongues congeal my thoughts.
There is nothing here that cannot be undone,
Nor anything so dire as to warrant obsession.
Yet if you do fear for me, despite my otherwise urgings,
Say simply that I love and am loved,
And with this, shall overcome all baser knowledge.
Therefore, do not fear for me, for I cannot take what has
Already been given.

Xena of Amphipolis.

Coyish and Skittish Girl

"Oh you coyish and skittish girl,
Why follow me?"
If these were my first thoughts,
Ignore them now, as they are more useless than dust.
Is there a bastardised thought of Elysian sent sorrow
To discredit your faith in me?
You have it now, more fully than was ever given.
If I had thought those thoughts,
Pay no heed to my mad ramblings,
For I am wont to leave my sanity a pace,
On occasion,
Yet for only a little time.
When I return, you may be doubly sure
Of my conviction.
For these tears that rend upon my heart
Are but momentary,
Whilst love is an ever ripening bloom.

Xena of Amphipolis