The Woman Contributed Cleanliness but Not What He Craved

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

You are like a Delphic Sibyl — but made

Of marble like the temple pillars.  You

Are like a moveless oracle of jade,

That hard to understand.  You give a clue

Of love, impending tragedy, and hate,

But always messages from you are more

From split-tongue python.  He resists hissed fate.

Your comments and your whispers are a roar

Inside your lover’s unprotected lung.

The ribs around it break apart so he

Is left to lick the shifting-statements tongue

You wield.  Your signs are hypnotizing repartee.

  You choose when not to speak and silence reigns

    Across his wishes.  You despise his pains.