Zane Ivy, _The Mistress

.................................
The Mistress
.................................

I tell her, maybe all we
mistresses
feel the same.

She nods her head.
We dance.
Then, we dance again.

She tells me maybe she
loves him too -
leans her head on my
shoulder, strokes
my hand.

"How would you feel,"
she asks, "if...
he got me pregnant?"

I slip my hand under
her blouse and feel
warm flesh, round.

"Are you?" I...
look into her eyes.

Behind a window
a woman answers,
sam man won

"Let's go!" she says...

From behind I hear
"They're all the same."
A good try, but
it isn't true.

In front of a church
five people standing.
Two glance in
our direction.

"Do you know them?"
molla she says.

It is freezing.
In the wind
her black shawl dancing.

Her skin is
warm.
She says my hands are
cold.
My humor is
ugly.
She knows why.

"Shall we wash?" she asks,
sits on the john, I
wash her feet
massage her toes.

She falls asleep.
I watch her...
until she goes.

.................................
Zane Ivy
.................................