Lillyth
 

when I last had a man
I lost him in the infinite blackness of my hair
he was holding on
grasping with his greedy hands
when he disappeared
somewhere around my vast hips
I had sung my siren-song
and he was gone

                  *       *       *

    in the beginning
    there was my face-off with God and Adam
    I refused to serve His will
    I refused to tend the Garden clad only in my hair
    I refused to bathe with the animals
    I refused to be put on my back

    instead, I sleep with the demons
    I travel through mirrors, through night
    I fly with the screech owl and the bat
    and carry the bodies of babies
    in my ragged fingers

                  *       *       *

  --when I slip naked between your sheets
     beware that you do not lose your way--

                  *       *       *

      witch that I am,
      I seduce your husbands
      I kill your newborns
      I drive your daughters into the night

                  *       *       *

      you accuse me of these witchcrafts
      (banished me from Eden
      when I whispered His name
      from my heat into the balmy breeze)

      so I live through others
      my insides are warm, fiery
      to the touch
      I wed through adultery
     I conceive through murder
      I love as you forbid your daughters to do the same
      sin   is my life
      sin   is my pathway to the world

                  *       *       *

does this mean I must be exorcised
      through your pretty trinkets,
      marvelous amulets
      the three angels can do nothing
      though I leave of my own free will

      I do relish my flight
      my creation of so much darkness
      to combat the glaring light
      --just look into my eyes--
      do you see me
     do you see through me
      do you see at all
      but I   see   you

           *       *       *

     just try to banish me again
     just try to keep your loved ones away from me
     just try to close the door to my cave
     the windows are your vanity
     your shame
     your longings for purity in blood-covered bodies
      I came First
      I had the First Man
      I danced with the First Cause

                  *       *       *

      when I last had a man
      I swallowed him whole
      and he laughed with joy inside my belly

                                     30 January 1993

Author Unknown