Sonnet

MY soul is flailed by myriad little whips

That sweetly sting my tender thoughts, but yet

There comes a time when I would fain forget

The small red cruelty that’s in your lips.

Forget your eyes, that ferret me from sleep,

And, if no power can help me from above,

I’ll beat your slender body into love

And bruise your silken throat until you weep.

In violence is love omnipotent—