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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stUxPQ6mjAI&ab_channel=AllThemWitches-Topic

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But When a Woman 

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Woos a Wolf

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                I

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So they shared his quiet room -   

With the stained, burgundy furniture,

With the crimson duvet,

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With the imprinted outlines

Of their bodies

Belted, into the mattress.

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                II

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And he let his right hand trace

The shapes and patterns, the colorations

Of the tattoos that shadowed

The delineations of her shoulders.

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And she touched the ridges of his chest,

Showed him where his ribs started, and ended,

Described nurse acuity, talked about anatomy

And the four valves that formed his heart.

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                III

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And they traded stories about the north - 

About Resolute Bay, and Baker Lake,

About health centers

And syllabics …

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And she continued to knead his chest

As though she were attempting resuscitation

Upon a heartbeat, that she could clearly see

Desperately needed restarting.

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And he continued to trace her shoulders -

To dodge the shadow of old memories

That carried just enough similarity as

To provoke her touch into becoming alarming.

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And she did it just so, just gentle enough

To avoid those recollections

And just firm enough

To avow him into her presence.

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                IV

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And in the end, though it wasn’t much - 

Wasn’t love

By the furthest stretch - 

It was just enough to soothe him,

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Just enough to keep a something

From a slip into becoming a nothing -

Just enough caressing

So as to keep him quietly talking …

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                V

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Just enough attention,

Just enough affirmation

So as still to keep his head,

To calm his runaway thoughts,

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To put both vulnerabilities

And anticipations, soothingly, to bed -

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Just enough gentle coaxing,

Just enough touch, and pause

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To fit the bridle over his ears,

The bit into his mouth,

A saddle across his collar

And her affections

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Past his jaws.

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And under her breath, she mumbled

As though to solidify a stroke:

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'Strike, while the iron's hot'

And he'll be mine, come tomorrow

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