Three Beauties

Wanting to be wanted
Is a hunger that keeps you light and thin
It's been a long time now
Since I floated off
A maiden in the air
My scent turning heads
My glance
Pouring wine onto thirsty hands

Satisfaction and love's labor won
Have made me heavy and fruitful
There is such beauty in the earth beneath your feet
It turns wine into sweet milk

My breasts are no longer high and firm
They lie softly against my rib cage
And spill into my husband's hands
A shiny web
Shaped like a flame
Crowns my belly button
A banner announcing
That my body has also been a home

Where once I was smooth muscle
And shining skin
Incredible and desirable
I am now soft and folding
Flesh
Ordinary
And well loved

This mother
Has played the melody
And danced the rhythm
And has begun to discern
The Crone's staccato
Every now & then
A little frightening
But not unwelcome
It cuts and will make me light again
And I will float not in air
But down through the earth
Then up and out of Time

Hum

It is late in the Season
The Leaves drift now
Like ashes
After the bonfire has done
Winter will be here soon
With nothing to hide her beauty
Her aggressive stillness
Will calm and satisfy me
As the old songs rise in my heart
My tongue singing the sober praises
That have no part
With the glamour of warmth and sunlight