Eve's Lament

There are infinite moments to recall for you

Push pieces into place; memory goes tall for you.

We made house, held hands, I sang for guests

Our world was intimate and never did I call for you.

True enough to say there was beauty about the affair;

My own shade, so blessed that I would bawl for you.

I count tulip bulbs swaying to heaven’s cold wind;

The painters come, and look how the colors sprawl for you.

Visitors come and go. I avert my gaze, don’t seek them out

Clear, it is as much my dismissal when they call for you.

It’s not a difficult request, to share what we have,

The way you go on, well, I never have to stall for you.

Beneath me is your hipbone again. There are no words

You say, What words? I’ll forget them all for you.

I don’t know what it is about the inside of me.

Something is nestled in my ribs, longing to crawl for you.

The vines are gathering light now. You won’t let

Your knees to the ground. You say, it’s not all for you.

Hands, heart, slender neck, every portrait is opaque

Truly I’ll tell you: Woman wouldn’t choose to fall for you.

Hayden Deffarges ('20)

POETRY