Regrets

Regrets

its idyllic charm 

lures spellbound landseekers 

with lush flora 

and trickling creeks 

like a siren enchants sailors, 

her long hair 

distracting 

with her 

naked beauty 

   the maelstrom 

              churning 

                      beyond 

then when beauty transforms 

as Scylla

and Charybdis

daughters who sought what wasn’t theirs

the ugly truth springs forth:

a father regrets a farm

there is such a thing 

as cursed land 

where the ghosts of soldiers 

still battle 

just as those 

who still dwell there