Born Again: Scripture Corinthians

wind...smell,
heavy with the
scent of obedience
to god, horse steps
with a shiver of fear,
my breath heavy of the
day's saloon beer,

horse stumbles...
we stumble on to a
woman in the scripture
of a loose dirt clod, she's
in sacred anointing in the woods,
air is scented with myrrh, cedar,
rose of sharon,

“To the one,
we are the smell
of death.  To the
other one, the fragrance
of life,” the born-again
mountain-kissed woman said. 
It was scripture from Corinthians 2:15.
The woman appeared to be wafting aloft the
fragrance of salvation and life among the living
and dead,

“Would you be
so kind to take
off your spurs, and
bend to anoint my feet? 
Balm blesses, Good Samaritan woman.”
         
I tipped my
hat, and then
bent down to unbuckle
my spurs. “What do they
call you?"

“Madam Blaze Starr,
known well in memory of
the Mustang Ranch,”

“Would that
be the one in Reno?”
I asked.

“That would
be the one.”

“Born again,
Madam?  I am
prepared to find
you a church in
Cripple Creek.”

“It’s not
a church
I need.”

“What do
you need, Madam?”

“Your gold pan,
for starters, and
then confession. I
have a predilection—the
sexual liking of women. 
I am born again—into the
profession. What do they
call you?"

“Chance LaRue,
known well as the
firebrand."

"Would that
be the one in
Colorado?"

"That would
be the one—Fire on
the Mountain, Lightning
in the air!"

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist