Back Next The Rapist

I saw loneliness
Walking in the field
And my happy one
Said follow her,
Go and be wet with her.
Indeed I would have listened
But then in minutes
The bad one
Would come and spoil it all.
It would have said:
She is too young
You are too old.
What if someone found out?
And so forth.
And yet
Even had we
Loneliness and me
Had by chance
Discovered a corner
Hidden
At the bottom of the world
Where she led me
So forever could I trust
The situation.
But still the bad one would fill me with doubts
So that when the rape was over
The bad one would say
I told you that you would feel nothing more than despair.
And it would be true
Very true.

Irwin R. Shaw - 1981