WITHIN THE SANCTUM

    Sleeping with the dogs

    —that is—

    sleeping with, sexing their master—
    who, under me undulated in joy
    
    But even so I wondered if
    these two shepherds, couchant like
    black stone jackals before an Egyptian temple
    would turn on their lord-god’s
    lover and rend me to shreds
    as if an aggressor violating
    the sanctity of that citadel,
    offering violence to she whom
    they want to, must obey, under the sheets
    warm and yielding, yes, to my intruder’s
    gentle-secret touch

-- John Zedolik