A Fable

A Fable


once was a woman
showed her
self
all through the psyche
of the town,
her hairy
lipped sisters
particularized
Eros:
‘watch
out for serpent
Love
dont waste your
time you
hear me on
him’


so the woman
long past
her girlhood
looked in the night
on naked Love


who stirred in the
light, said
‘wont you ever
let my trust
go on sleeping
in the dark
of our mutual
intentions,
turn off the light
& dont look at me
with the eyes of the
town in your eyes’
so she went
back & told her
sisters ‘it
happened just
like you wanted
he looked at me
& saw you
looked at me
& saw for the
first time
the whole
stinking family
the whole
town what
will I do
now I am
vanished
into everything
else’

& they laughed
& brought out wine
in slender
corinthian jars
& they said

‘it will not
make any
difference
after a while

if a man
really loves
a woman
he will take
the sour
with the sweet
& will respect
her connections
& the society

from which she rose’
& they drank
wine & gave some
to Psyche

who went home
drunk & said to
Eros “I am
not a woman
I am your Wife
use me
after the intricate
customs of your
secrecy

& let me shine
in the darkness
of what you are”

but Eros said
‘we have lived
here too long
even the rocks
are the town’s
rocks & the trees
drink poison
from the shadows
of the townfolk
on their roots
we must build
a labyrinth
to hide the monster
of our perfected
love’

& Love
hid themselves
in his city.


Robert Kelly

Posted over on Poetry Foundation