a boy proposed, on manor ankle,
with pointed nose and manner tranquil
disclosed these points in candor thankful:

“we are ambitious, our union oddest,
but you’re my princess, you are a goddess.
safety pin this to your bodice:
I’ll give forgiveness, and be modest.”

in the dark of night we’d cuddle,
limbs entwined in tight-keyed puzzle,
slowly solved, egg white please struggle.

the boy became a beau, a butler,
a joy aflame, aglow, a lover,
a toy untamed below the covers,

a part-time pharoah, part-time tarzan
from mr barrow blossomed carson.
through hard-time harrows, or war-crime martian
til our twisted marrow’s flotsam arson