The Tie That Separates
She was as chilly as a fireplace
Whose logs are newly crossed and neatly laid,
Or thus it seemed to him who checked her case
As one or two degrees of centigrade.
So he who had for years believed her ice
Sought stimulating company. The rest
Is obvious: the usual device,
And she was free, naive, and unexpressed.
Her second choosing, minus ritual,
Kindled the wood, prim-sliced and never lit.
So bright the flame, so individual,
They dreaded to desert the warmth of it;
Then, through a tie that legalized their status,
Both were extinguished. Only freedom matters.
Structure
14 lines · 2 stanzas