His long neck around her own

She gasps for air in short breaths

Her bottem lip caught in his beak

is starting to bleed and drip onto his

soft and white feathered body, which lays

upon her own soft body.

His black webbed feet flat on her inner thighs,

his tiny claws leave imprints

Her thighs tremble in rhythm to the sporadic

flapping of his wings
.

Her own tiny claws dig into his flesh, leaving wounds

at the base of his wings.

An act that is violent and degrading being enacted

as beautiful and full of grace.

But his feathers remain stained with the reminder

of what he has done…

*Inspired by William B. Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan”*