Poetic Refrain: Song of the Oni Gods, or How the Spice Kingdom Came to Be

A Winter’s Tale

Mei moves with her family to the hinterlands,

where cold gods reign, and colder climes draw

hoarfrost on her coal black hair.

This is the first time the girl, barely a young woman,

Has seen snow. The peaks of the mountains are like

icicles piercing the sky, and at night, the moon

is the brightest she has ever seen, like a bright

silver coin, nestled at the crest of the ridges.

One night, the Bear that Swallowed the Moon comes

and bids her “Ride my back, Mei. I am Bei Ling,

the Moon Incarnate, and I shall show you the

majesty of my frozen kingdom.”

It is a wooing of love, and Mei climbs aback Bear -

they rush through pine and red panda up the

slope, in his throat is the lunar disc, shining

every time he growls or opens his mouth to speak

in a tongue not human, but bestial.

That night, Bei Ling digs her a bed of snow

and mos