Sonnet 264

Sonnet 264

I played with her, this stranger I had found
drifting as I was in the circus crowd.
Within an hour she looked up and glowed,
to say I had her puppy in my pound.

It made me shudder, though I was also proud.
She was a pretty specimen, a thing
I now possessed. It made my innards sing.
From then on I became a little loud.

This is no ballad. We found our lovers’ lair
in nearby squalor at the edge of glare.
Her frightened thighs were chilly, wet with smell.
I pitied her poor garments where they fell.

Somewhere along the way while I was in her,
I realized I was the only sinner.

Edward Wright Haile