Amulet by Sandy Benitez

Maidenhair ferns soft as silk
fan away the scent of fear,
treading quietly upon carpets of moss.  

We are visitors here, 
so proceed shoeless to step inside
this house where stillness reigns.  

Spotted mushrooms shrivel
at the mercy of my gentlest touch. 
Squirrels scamper along the arms

of ancient oaks in search of acorns,
dangling like heavy bronze earrings
on ears shaped as filigreed leaves.

I caress the emerald amulet you gifted 
me in our youth, evoking memories 
enchanted, unrestrained as the forest.






Sandy Benitez is the founding editor of Poppy Road Review and Flutter Press. Her first novel, a gothic fantasy, The Rosegiver, was published in February 2016, under the pen name Sandy Hiss.