Woman Poem by David Lewis Paget

Woman, oh Woman,
Why do you try me,
Why do you shake me,
Break me
Deny me
When all that you do
Is deride and defy me?

Once we were young
And you painted your faces,
Pierced your tongues
And silk-stockinged your traces;
Wafted the scent of despair
And seduction,
Coloured your lips with
A hint of corruption,
Taunted and teased with your hips
As they swayed it,
Aimed at my reason;
Dismayed and waylaid it.

I was bemused
By your willful distraction,
Caught in your spell
And the well of attraction,
Courted and charmed
As you played 'hard to get me',
Turned my face from you
As much as you'd let me,
Filled you with praises
Then watched you cuckold me,
Took to another
So she could just hold me.

Year followed year
And your scent, it still lingers,
Once I stood tall and strong,
Now I'm all fingers,
Love came and went until
I was but sated,
Everything failed
Then you came to me, naked,
Now in the twilight
We look on and wonder
Where are the ties that bind?
All torn asunder!

Woman, oh Woman,
Why do you sigh me,
Why do you shake me
Break me
And cry me
When all that you want is
To lie here beside me?

30 March 2008