In the Witch's House, Gretel Remembers

 

the sheen of the white pebbles
in the moonlight lit up like
blinking eyes

how she once killed a mouse
with a hammer
made soup
just for her and her brother

how she chipped her tooth
eating the stewed sole of her father's boot
how Hansel gave her half of his

how the skin on her shoulders
was so transparent
the straps
of her underclothes wore holes,
the sores gleamed like pennies

how her breath mingled with
Hansel's the second night out in the woods,
when he told her the story

about a large white bird
that would ferry them home
across the river,
their pockets full
of cookies and pearls