Love Song

Stay, adder, startled from the spikenard
by my step. Adder, stay—, lissome syrinx,
temptress of my underbrush. Slither not

so swiftly, though in slithering you dazzle,
scales scintillant under noon. Under noon
I sought you in these grasses, dazzled

by your splendor even deep in grasses,
with my pencils sharpened into points of green
and green. How sharp the emerald pencil,

and the sharper chartreuse, to chart
the deadly pattern of your skin—
that sleek defiant pattern wreathing knots

concentric as you writhe, or is it
dark striations pulling taut? Your skin
so seeming simple is in motion complicated.

When I master its motions, I'll sew myself
a dress of emerald and chartreuse, thin chemise
with knotting wreathes to dozy contemplation.

Then watch me work the garden. Down
among grasses and spikenard my whiplash
glance, my sidewound sashay, who

will resist? What power's in desire:
with admirers seeking, chasing, charting...
Nothing on earth could make me stay.

Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Johnson All rights reserved
from A Metaphorical God
Persea Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission