Cerne Abbas - The Make Over
Once they climbed into his arms –
those anxious aproned women
who toiled up the steep sward
in the solstice moon
to lie in the wishing grass
that greened his thighs.
Now his body language
hints at low libido.
He leans uncertainly against the hill
bowing out after long centuries
of goodwill, of largesse.
Some call it neglect,
others abuse. The Parish Council
meets in closed session – calls out
the Friends of this and that, the Boy Scouts,
the Hill Walkers, the Green Men,
even the church choir – the date set
they hire a score of shovels
order a ton of chalk, buy sandwiches
and cider – turn the lot loose
to wrest him out of the hillside,
slash the nettles from his eyebrows,
cut the bindweed from his manhood
give him back his club.
But will anyone ever again,
come longing to him
in the fecund nights of spring?
Page(s) 41
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