For You, I Stole
And for you, I spill onto the grass
a handful of crystal dust;
it rises slow,
shrouding the soft flesh.
A shiver passes over the skin,
a sudden, creeping chill—
these are the kisses
stolen by night
from a sleeping Maenad.
I can already see her fury
when she wakes
to find her thyrsus stripped.
It was I who stole
her kisses
for you.
Olga Perić is a writer, practicing clinical psychologist, and court-appointed forensic expert from Šabac, Serbia. Her creative nonfiction and poetry explore depth psychology, somatic memory, and intergenerational trauma from a Balkan perspective. She actively shares her work on her personal Substack at https://substack.com/@
