Girlfriends

derived from Verlaine
for John Griffith

That hot September night, we slept in a single bed,
naked, and on our frail bodies the sweat
cooled and renewed itself.  I reached out my arms
and you, hands on my breasts, kissed me.  Evening of
     amber.

Our nightgowns lay on the floor where you fell to your
     knees
and became ferocious, pressed your head to my
     stomach,
your mouth to the red gold, the pink shadows; except
I did not see it like this at the time, but arched

my back and squeezed water from the sultry air
with my fists.  Also I remembered hearing, clearly
but distantly, a siren some streets away -- de

da de da de da -- which mingled with my own
absurd cries, so that I looked up, even then,
to see my fingers counting themselves, dancing.

Carol Ann Duffy