riding the hedge

you are wild and untamed

you are free and unconstrained

and yet in my arms you are docile 

and unresistant

a willing sacrifice 

you are over my head

you go against the grain

as i grab you by the throat

ice crystals catching in your fur

before i let you go

i am much disturbed 

i am much distressed

i do not want to hurt you

please 

please

please do not make me do this

in the box you go

in that cold and airless chamber

where your innocence is frozen 

while in between your paws

the velveteen rabbit rests

your comfort

your guiding psychopomp 

i close the chamber door

to frozen suffocation 

and then i walk away

while you leap and bound

across the frozen tundra

to the otherworld 

where you will wait for me

where you will share your secrets with me

when i cross the hedge