• When first we met, on the day of mirrors, when the rain hissed to meet the pavement, I took him into my house and gave him a name and taught him the rhythm of skin and blood and bone.

    And briefly, he was content to share meals with me, and sleep beneath my stitchwork quilt, and we belonged to each other wholly.

    After a certain time, though, he came to me and said, A discontentment is upon me. It is like a great anchor upon my heart, a festering wound in my side.

    To my lover, whose eyes were dark as shadows upon the sand, I said, What can be done?

    He said, Build me a city, unmatched by any other on earth.

    So for seven days and nights I laboured to build a city. When I was done, there was none on earth to equal it in beauty, nor size, nor wealth. I lay a wall about its borders, and gave the key to its gates to my love.

    And briefly, he was content to walk its streets, and to sleep within its walls, and the city, my lover and I belonged to each other wholly.