A girl falls into an abyss and the devil
grabs her feet to pull her down faster.
Teaches her to fight and says, this is for you.

He hands her a knife still wet with blood
from her back and says, still for you.
Sets her up for murder and says, I did it
for you. The devil has a way of dressing lies up
so well even queens will die to trust him.

There’s no part where angels come to save her
nothing winged or arrowed left in this graveyard city.
The devil wraps himself around her and says,
I am all you have & don’t you want me here?
Don’t you need me here?

At the bottom of an abyss, a girl accepts the devil’s embrace
but she’s weighing that bloodied knife in one thoughtful hand.
- Elisabeth Hewer

cover art by Leslie Ann O'Dell

21 tracks