Country Visit

Lady, lady
down from town
in silver slippers
silken gown

Silver armlet
silken hair
sunshine, laughter
country air

Ducks and ducklings
trees in bud
cows all gazing
chewing cud

(Muddy puddles
buzzing dung
porkers squealing
pullets strung

Mud, and blood
in the yard
metal cold
stone hard)

Lady, lady
on the lawn
shown the pond
the frogs, the spawn

Strolling barefoot
leggy, slender
nails gleaming
lips tender

Laughing, posing
in the sun –
Topless? Shall I?
Just for fun?

(Mud, blood
blood and mud
one castrated
one at stud

Mud and blood
ducklings dying
blood flowing
feathers flying)

Lady, lady
come and dine
there’s sucking pig
and coq-au-vin

(Swollen turkeys
gravid sows
placid capons
fecund cows)

There’s duck à l’orange
côte de veau
cut it, watch
the juices flow

But it’s so lean! –
a little laugh –
you haven’t killed
the fatted calf!

(Semi-darkness
slatted floors
leggy, tender
veal like yours)

Lady, lady
never fall
stay as you are
change not at all

In silver slippers
silken gown
lady, lady
return to town

Go gaily down
the leafy lane
see the breeze-blocks
not the pain

See the hedges
see the gate
but not the steel
don’t feel the hate

Lady, lady
fare you well
angels have nothing
to do with hell

Mud and sunshine
sun and mud
the passage of beauty
the letting of blood