Sunday, April 03, 2005

Modern Witches, version 3

Do they burn the way they used to?
I understand they used to swim – or float, at least –
when everybody else went straight to the slimy bottom
and sat there, bubbles rising from the mouth and nostrils
until there wasn’t any more air to send back to air.

Do they burn the way they used to?
When passions got God’s goat and love’s fire
curled his heavenly lip with infinite disgust,
did they burn then in the face of His cold regard?
And for whom did they burn?

Do they burn the way they used to?
It used to be you’d look to the sky and see a body –
human hands spread wide on the ends of extended arms,
robes flapping about the torso –
and you’d think, “It’s an angel!”
Unless it was a woman, then, “Witch!”
What do people decide these days in such a situation?

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