Temptation

‘That huge iced bun is bad for me.
I can’t afford that ring.
He’s dishy – but my girlfriend’s man.’

‘It’s human to give in,’
the Serpent of Temptation smiles -
he’s full of wiles, often beguiles.

For the sake of an apple
Eden was lost.
So, what’s the cost
of happiness?  

© Gill Dunstan

Temptation

We walk our road: Rosetti's 'Uphill all the Way'
Or Frost's 'The Road Not Taken'.
Directionless.
No end point glows.
Yet, the sky chisels out our silhouettes,
Keeps us upright, unforsaken.

At our feet, Temptation lies like Mica sparkling -
Layered with consequence.
Kneel to touch?

You'll get dust on your fingers...

© Wendy Vacani

All rights reserved 

Anniversary

After twenty-five long years
In dark Medieval forests,
Neighbours crowned wives
With silver wreaths,
As Death within those years
Had been truly vanquished.

Today, wreaths have vanished
And rainbows resist moulding,
Now shops tout china for twenty years
Modern Appliances for four!

Can mankind
Glory in a steam-iron
Medusa cables trailing?

© Wendy Vacani

All rights reserved 

Fall and Rise

Turn away
   when I stumble
   down purple lanes
   or succumb
   to the siren's call.

Close your eyes
   when the quick-sands
   pull me down
Close your ears
  when I totter and fall.

Yet whatever I do
   or wherever I roam
   still, I know you'll be there
   when my shame
   brings me home.

© Sheila Rogers
All rights reserved 

Now-a-days

Temptation loses its allure,
yields to instant gratification,
the blink between want and have.

Liberal mores assuage
the tide of guilt and remorse
that scuppered yesterday’s sinner.

‘Trespass’ descended
from common parlance;
archaic.

We take what we fancy,
pick’n’mix bags at the ready,
appetites unbridled,
our collective conscience
oblivious, untainted.

© Helen McIntosh

 All rights reserved

Temptation

Her birthday. No different from any other day. Forego the cheesecake. That soft, deep, snowy, creamy sweetness and crunchy, grainy, caramel biscuit underneath; rolling around the flesh inside of her mouth, oozing between her teeth. Her stomach, heart and mouth reached for it. The reward of it! 

But. The fleshy bounce of her hips swelling, ballooning with each mouthful. Bones felt close to the skin mean LOVE.

© Valerie Taylor

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