AS OTHER LOVERS DO.

A SLAVE GIRL MUSES ON HER SLEEPING MISTRESS.

Amy draws a curtain
On her mistress’s midday
Slumbers. She wishes she

Could enter her mistress’s
Dreams, could be there,
Closer, sharing the same air,

The same thoughts, the same
View and smell and sounds.
Her master, Marcus has gone

Off on a visit to some man of
Importance in Rome. Good
At least he’s out of the way.

At least I can be here when
She wakes and not have him
Sniffing around like a dog for

A b***h on heat. She draws
Back the curtain a few inches
And looks at her mistress.

The eyes closed, the lips
Sealed in a kind of downward
Slant, the nose breathing the

Midday air without hurry, with
One arm above her head and the
Other by her side. She wishes

She could lie beside her now,
Sense her arms about her, her
Lips on hers, her words soft as

Falling petals entering her ears.
He had her last night; he had her
Beside him in the bed; had her

In the usual way of men. She
Wonders if he could sense her
Presence in his bed beside his

Wife, could feel the indentation
Of her head upon the pillow
Where she had lain some nights

Before his return. Some parts of
Her wishes he could, if only out
Of jealousy of his return and his

Place in her mistress’s bed and
In her arms and him having the
Kisses and not her as she had

Before. She is tempted to sneak
Over and lay a soft kiss on her
Mistress’s brow or cheek. To feel

Again that soft skin, that feel of
Flesh, but she lets the curtain drop.
She will bide her time and wait until

The master goes again, but until that
Time and moment comes she must
Take what little comfort she can

Seeing her mistress and sensing
Her love and in the private moment
When they can, exchange the odd

Embrace or kiss or take some comfort
From just the view of the one she
Loves so deeply as other lovers do.