She cradles needles
Like they were cherubs.
Oh,
How they cry! Vermillion
Tears that leak
Across cheeks,
Across palms.
She knots together the caverns
In the centre of my hands.
She dares to lay lips
On the empty
Space,
Takes a red ribbon
From her dress.
With a callous caress
I am enslaved.
Removed from a cross,
Now in bondage to her bed.