Complaint + 

They call me and I go + 

It is a frozen road + 

past midnight, a dust + 

of snow caught + 

in the rigid wheeltracks. + 

The door opens. + 

I smile, enter and + 

shake off the cold. + 

Here is a great woman + 

on her side in the bed. + 

She is sick, + 

perhaps vomiting, + 

perhaps laboring + 

to give birth to + 

a tenth child. Joy! Joy! + 

Night is a room + 

darkened for lovers, + 

through the jalousies the sun + 

has sent one gold needle! + 

I pick the hair from her eyes + 

and watch her misery + 

with compassion. + 