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CHAPTER ONE

FOREST DREAMS

There is a fragrance in the forest It does not cole flower or leaf It is not the rich aroma of dark crumbly earth or the sweetness of fruit that has passed from merely ripe to mellow and rich The scent I recalled was a co and awakening their essences and of a very slight wind that blended them perfectly She smelled like that

We lay together in a bower Above us, the distant top of the canopy swayed gently, and the beaht danced over our bodies in time with the branches above our heads for walls of our forest pavilion Deep moss cushioned my bare back, and her soft ar place with their foliage and large, pale green flowers The sepals pushed past the fleshy lips of the blossoe butterflies ings of deep orange traced with black were investigating the flowers One insect left a drooping blossohted on my lover’s shoulder, and walked over her soft dappled flesh I watched it unfurl a coiled black tongue to taste the perspiration that dewed the forest woman’s skin, and envied it

I lay in indescribable comfort, content beyond passion I lifted a lazy hand to iress Fearlessly, it stepped onto ers I raised it to be an ornament in my lover’s thick and tousled hair She opened her eyes atwith soft brown She smiled I leaned up on ainstin their softness

“I’ back from the kiss “I’m so sorry I had to kill you”

Her eyes were sad but still fond “I know,” she replied There was no rancor in her voice “Be at peace with it, soldier’s boy All will coic now, and whatever it must have you do, you will do”

“But I killed you I loved you and I killed you”

CHAPTER ONE

FOREST DREAMS

There is a fragrance in the forest It does not cole flower or leaf It is not the rich aroma of dark crumbly earth or the sweetness of fruit that has passed from merely ripe to mellow and rich The scent I recalled was a co and awakening their essences and of a very slight wind that blended them perfectly She smelled like that

We lay together in a bower Above us, the distant top of the canopy swayed gently, and the beaht danced over our bodies in time with the branches above our heads for walls of our forest pavilion Deep moss cushioned my bare back, and her soft ar place with their foliage and large, pale green flowers The sepals pushed past the fleshy lips of the blossoe butterflies ings of deep orange traced with black were investigating the flowers One insect left a drooping blossohted on my lover’s shoulder, and walked over her soft dappled flesh I watched it unfurl a coiled black tongue to taste the perspiration that dewed the forest woman’s skin, and envied it

I lay in indescribable comfort, content beyond passion I lifted a lazy hand to iress Fearlessly, it stepped onto ers I raised it to be an ornament in my lover’s thick and tousled hair She opened her eyes atwith soft brown She smiled I leaned up on ainstin their softness