Domina
I knew a poet
Regular man
No attitude
Catullus, he wrote stuff
with the most outrageous insults
about his fellow big boys
But he loved a woman
Married, which meant
he was fucked
On a sweet spring day
He came to me
with a job
The metalwork
on her house gate
needed fixing
A patrician’s house?
They’ll see me coming
and lock that damn gate
No, no he insisted
She always takes my advice
in these matters
More pay
than you’ll see in a month
And you can do me a favor
Here it comes
His tongue turns to Suadela’s
Goddess of persuasion
Just see who comes in and out
he smiled
Her husband is away
So much for Fortuna
in my pocket
A spy
to guard his cock’s fancy
Madman
To cuckold and be jealous, too
No no, he smiled
Just to make sure
no riffraff comes around
Other than me?
I tells him
and he smiles, smiles
But I do it
What am I supposed to do?
Say no?
The house
is up on the Palatine
Don’t get higher than that
The gate really is
a mess
Old iron
So through the nice
soft Aprilis days
I work on it
Catullus bugs me constantly
about those riffraffs
But the lady
domina of that great house
Clodia, her name
seems straight-up enough
Other than screwing a poet
of course,
she only sees clients of her husband
The dominus is off north somewhere
governing a province
or something
At night, Catullus buys me a cup
and I tell him
the great lady
don’t seem to open her legs
for no one
but him
He laughs
Did you think that’s why
I got you the job, Lucius?
Course not, course not
Foolish me
Just fixing a gate
On about the Nones
I’m finishing up the iron
and the domina comes out
First time, I’ve seen her close
Black hair, dark eyes
small woman, delicate
I remember
Catullus called her pulchra
Beautiful
Her bearers
are getting her chair ready
But she sees me working
Walks down to the gate
Her slaves, stewards, all watching
Raises her hand a little
then smiles,
a smile that says she knows something
Knows more than men could ever guess
Then she walks back
and the chair curtains
close over her
Over the night’s drink
Catullus writes a poem
I can’t read it
He says
How many kisses
would be enough and more?
As many as the stars that
when the night is silent
see people’s secret love affairs
He drinks in one big swallow
and asks
Was that what was in her smile, Lucius?
So she knew? I ask him
That you had me
watch her?
You’re too straight, Lucius
Just remember, you stood close
to beauty, to heaven, to hell
Doesn’t make much sense
But he’s the poet
not me
__________________________________
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____________________________________
Click here to read next poem: Cinis
____________________________________
I knew a poet
Regular man
No attitude
Catullus, he wrote stuff
with the most outrageous insults
about his fellow big boys
But he loved a woman
Married, which meant
he was fucked
On a sweet spring day
He came to me
with a job
The metalwork
on her house gate
needed fixing
A patrician’s house?
They’ll see me coming
and lock that damn gate
No, no he insisted
She always takes my advice
in these matters
More pay
than you’ll see in a month
And you can do me a favor
Here it comes
His tongue turns to Suadela’s
Goddess of persuasion
Just see who comes in and out
he smiled
Her husband is away
So much for Fortuna
in my pocket
A spy
to guard his cock’s fancy
Madman
To cuckold and be jealous, too
No no, he smiled
Just to make sure
no riffraff comes around
Other than me?
I tells him
and he smiles, smiles
But I do it
What am I supposed to do?
Say no?
The house
is up on the Palatine
Don’t get higher than that
The gate really is
a mess
Old iron
So through the nice
soft Aprilis days
I work on it
Catullus bugs me constantly
about those riffraffs
But the lady
domina of that great house
Clodia, her name
seems straight-up enough
Other than screwing a poet
of course,
she only sees clients of her husband
The dominus is off north somewhere
governing a province
or something
At night, Catullus buys me a cup
and I tell him
the great lady
don’t seem to open her legs
for no one
but him
He laughs
Did you think that’s why
I got you the job, Lucius?
Course not, course not
Foolish me
Just fixing a gate
On about the Nones
I’m finishing up the iron
and the domina comes out
First time, I’ve seen her close
Black hair, dark eyes
small woman, delicate
I remember
Catullus called her pulchra
Beautiful
Her bearers
are getting her chair ready
But she sees me working
Walks down to the gate
Her slaves, stewards, all watching
Raises her hand a little
then smiles,
a smile that says she knows something
Knows more than men could ever guess
Then she walks back
and the chair curtains
close over her
Over the night’s drink
Catullus writes a poem
I can’t read it
He says
How many kisses
would be enough and more?
As many as the stars that
when the night is silent
see people’s secret love affairs
He drinks in one big swallow
and asks
Was that what was in her smile, Lucius?
So she knew? I ask him
That you had me
watch her?
You’re too straight, Lucius
Just remember, you stood close
to beauty, to heaven, to hell
Doesn’t make much sense
But he’s the poet
not me
__________________________________
Return to Ferrum Table of Contents
____________________________________
Click here to read next poem: Cinis
____________________________________