The Song of Salmon

Alone they came to me to stay the night.
Aloof, they slept not in my perfumed bed.
Beware the innocent stranger, I thought
Because men here are never innocent.
Calamity came to strike the wary peace.
Cries broke the night and pierced my open door.
Demanding my guests, they mistook me for
Delilah who gave all to all who asked.
Eager men searched my linen-covered bed
Entranced by fantasies too expensive
For ordinary men to oft afford.
Fragile my power became as blood hunger
Harried their horns and hardened bad intent
Hastily, I wove a path of soothing lies.
I told them out the gate they'd find the spies.
I hinted that success might bring reward
Just with the slightest twinkle of the eye.
Judicious men prefer the pleasure earned.
Knowledge is power. They were impotent.
Kindness beneath the roof flax lay trembling.
Love is a more skillful hunter than hate;
Ladies never failed their lover to find
Misplaced within my harlot pleasure house.
Mercy was my hunger. I brought them out.
Naivete was doubly good for me
Necessity, the mother of my dirty work
Opened my melting heart's secret terror
Out came flattery, praise, new-born hope,
Pleading for clemency for me and mine
Praying omnipotent power be kind.
Quietly, the red cord led them away.
Quickly, I retrieved this token of promise
Reeling in the tidings of the fresh dawn.
Rejoicing, I prepared for coming doom.
Sated men forever left my grave home
Secure in their wall's dividing power.
True, the omnipotent seems impotent
Unable to do more than march around.
Unwilling, my family sits imprisoned.
Various relations rise to leave me.
Vainly I plead for an hour. They will not
Wait for what may never come. They will not
Wish for peace, not even trumpet call can
Excite loyalty in those deaf to the
Exception. The wind begins to blow like
Zephyr's breath, bringing to me the scion of
Zerah's twin, ancestor of life's only hope.