BRAVE NEW WORLD

A ROMAN WOMAN HAS A NEW SLAVE GIRL.

Amy pushes ribbon
Through her mistress’s
Dress, her fingers push

Gently, taking the satin
Softness and easing it
Through and then tying

It neatly into a bow. She
Stands back putting her
Hands together like one

About to pray. Annona,
Her mistress, looks down
At the work done; she never

Felt the slightest tug or
Yank or any other spiteful
Roughness that other slave

Girls she had had before
Often applied, despite the
Fact that she could have

Had them punished. Yes,
A good buy this one was.
In more ways than one.

She gazes at Amy aloofly,
Not giving ground on her
Status, despite the fact

She has the girl in her bed
When her own want or need
Arises. Amy still has her eyes

Lowered; the hands still held
Together, awaiting more work
If needed. Discretion must be

Maintained, Annona muses,
Looking around at others
Nearby, others of rank like

Herself. Yet she knows (even
If not yet fully) that she owes
Thanks to Venus for this girl,

A gem amongst the riff raff
In the marketplace of slaves.
She allows a smile to form,

A discreet touch of the hand,
A slight tap on the girl’s flesh,
And just then the girl lifts

Her face and that slight smile
Appears, like the waking of
A new sun in the dark reaches

Of the vast universe, as if a
New brave world had been born;
A new bright beginning had begun.