TOO SOON RETURNED.

A LOVE POEM.

Marcus’s ship is seen.
Amy looks over the
Balcony of the villa
And spots it below in

The sea. Her mistress,
Annona stands back.
She doesn’t want to see
Him too soon, she’ll no

Longer have her slave
Girl Amy in her bed all
The time he’s back from
The campaign with his

Bullish ways and talk
And wants. She gazes
At Amy leaning over
The balcony wall, the

Form, the way she bends.
The figure is enough to
Drive her mad. Look at
Her: the body, the head,

The hair, the way the hands
Move. Claudia, a friend,
Looks out to sea; she knows
Nothing of the thoughts

And wants in Annona’s
Mind and heart. She smiles
And laughs softly, and
Annona wonders if Claudia

Is in love with her husband
Marcus and whether she has
Taken him to her bed when
She herself is away. She

Has heard no gossip of such.
Pity it would serve him right
To catch her pox. Amy turns
Around and smiles at her and

Annona’s heart thumps so
Loud within that she imagines
Even Marcus for all his sexual
Sensuous stupidity can hear the din.