All my recent lovers

Let me think of the men who have ravaged me
Come through my fecund land determined to plough it for themselves,

I asked, for the stretch of my acres was too much to dwell upon alone
And my body was eager for warmth,

I put out a beacon on the hill
Then painted my mouth with a ripened cherry,

He saw the beckoning colour of the house
And assumed the costume of a buyer,

I invited in the roaming lord,
Offered the warmth of my fire and the strength of my wine,

Grandpa’s chair sat empty
Whilst he chose instead my velveteen couch,

Have I been a tease all this time?
The ceiling invited me to wonder,

Outside the skies grew dull
As I accommodated my new beaux,

Where have you been all my life, he asked
I fell from heaven, I replied,

For a while we hoed the land together
And he clasped my waist with an enviable grip,

The townsfolk took a liking to him,
Sharing his snouts and his jokes and his ale,

But soon the starlings tight on the wire began to chatter
And I would shift in his arms,

I wanted only to distill and keep the essence of his manhood
His sweat, his lust, his brawn,

But shivering in bed I could not be still
And the hours before the dawn ravished me with dread,

Where did you leave yourself, he asked
The green silk in the water took me, I told him,

Don’t swim the river alone, he said
But I was immersed and a mile upstream,

My dog barked from the bank
If I could have gone back for her, I would have

But the tide had swept me out.