My rusty knight

Delphine Lecompte

At first I mistook the scarf
for a colony of hungry insects
with antennas that could pick up
the desperate writhing of other colonies
since long extinct.

You put it right
and wrapped the scarf around me
it felt like a noose
then later like a collar
made of deer ticks
but I kept it on
I didn't want to discourage
your chivalrousness.

We went to the fair
you won me a stuffed dog
it looked like a prehistoric sea mammal.