You say she must not speak,
like the women of her ancestors,
must yield completely to you
and to your will,
be entirely submissive like peasant women
in the barns after the harvest
when they're exhausted
and let the men come to them
while they're asleep.
Then one night she does. She speaks.
She asks if she's managing to make your body less lonely.
You say you can't really understand the word
as applied to you.
That you can't distinguish between
thinking you're lonely
and actually becoming lonely.
