The Orphean Gaze
for Emma McNally
Reclining across long autumn afternoons
Your twiggish legs draped ever so affectionately
My eyes wander up them to the honey spot
I turn away, grasping for sanity in this mire of madness
Indentured servitude to your heart’s whims
I find myself enchained, enchanted, betrothed
Speak of softness but do so with full force
Knee-high boots concealing scars of your past life
Do you see my glance across the loud, smoky room?
I hear your shrillness, I see your nothingness
The void of you drawing me as water from a well
Consume me. I am yours for the taking
My body aches and groans in the ecstasy of your violence
Whip me, beat me, kill me, eat me
My consecrated body can be your salvation
Together we shall reign for a thousand years
But this is all fantasy, nothing more
You would sooner spit me out than look at me
Reality – this reality – is a hurtling freight train
Thrusting full-bore off the plateau into a Stygian abyss
In this brave, new world, I find no hope
Only longing