Andrew Calhoun - John’s Wife

John's Wife

I took a lover; it was late in the Spring,
The fleas did sparkle, and the bees did sing;
His body beside me, like a bird on the wing,
And the skies did weep and mourn.

I came back to John, when the mid-summer tattled,
The doors all closed, and the ceiling rattled;
I took off my clothing, but none of it mattered,
And the skies did rain cold rain.

I went back to night school the following Autumn,
I passed my lessons and then I forgot 'em,
The teacher did stare at bottom and bosom,
We did gather there.

And the Winter came like a guiltless trial,
When we met on the platform we forgot to smile,
And the air was dead, but after a while
We did not notice the snow.

John is a master of rationing sorrow,
John is a swell and a jolly good fellow;
But the water is deep where it looks to be shallow,
He may drown in tears.

I am alive, starved and swollen,
An untaught, hard bought, half-crazy woman,
In need of a drink, or my father's blessing,
Help me to be free.

Now it's early in Spring, and the streets have roses,
The buses go by, children hold their noses,
A daughter of darkness, a daughter of Moses,
I will die one day.