Snails...

...in mutual congress.

 

****************************************

 

Love amongst the flowers.

 

Surrounded by the fallen stars

Of Yellow Loosestrife, on our path,

Two snails lay in motionless copulation,

In mutual lingering bliss.

Hermes and Aphrodite both!

How different might our attitudes be

If people were like this.

 

No sexist jokes, no his and hers,

No chauvinists, nor feminists,

No Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss,

No putting down, nor snide remarks,

No women drivers, no pornography,

No women’s work, nor male preserves,

No Page Three girls, no Chippendales,

No rape, perhaps, and no misogynists.

 

But having male and female

In one body, would lead

To double joys, and double trials.

Imagine double impotence,

Or twice ‘lay-back-and-think-of-England’.

Perhaps the possibility

Of double, double ecstasy

Would not be worth the added trouble.

For there would be no mystery,

No discovery, no other.

Better left maybe, to snails,

Those lesser forms with lesser minds,

Still in union amongst the flowers.

 

(Published in Earth Love 22, 2006)

 

Done