The Adulteress
The woman walks between two worlds
and gathers up her skirts,
and bending, gathers in her band
pale cuckoo flowers
in no man’s land.
And bending, gathering,
she tongues the sweetness from her lips,
but still the purple stain remains
indelible of stolen fruits.
The woman moves from world to world,
and pulls her hair across her face
and tries to hide the hidden mark -
invisible yet scarlet brand -
that hate and love together formed,
and time of earth will not erase.
The woman steps from world to world,
and leaves behind the ecstasy,
and dons instead the agony
of guilt, that boulders on her breast,
like heavy, weighty rocks that pressed
the witch to slow, excruciating death.
The woman turning, turning goes
to lie upon the bitter bed
she made, a life, a love, ago.
Page(s) 7
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