Cruel Mother

Sweet juices, crushed from the fruit run over her lips
Down her breasts, down her body, down between her hips
Strong legs wrap around a tree, squeezes with her thighs
Breathes life through roots with quiet sighs

A child she bears beneath its shade with labour hard and long
A moment's tenderness, a moment's passion, short and sweet the song

She cradles, then buries it beneath the earth, under a drowning moon
Nourishment, blood and bone, for the roots to find

The cruel mother lives in the grove, dancing her life away
Sweet as the juice on a soldier's lips on a summer's day