1. A drinker buck, spear-straight in his poise
Incline by incline, like a branch in its bend

2. With a restless, pacing gait
Melting from his flirt and his shyness

3. I teased him laughing, so he played hard to get
The play of a lord exerting mastery over his boy

4. And I was chaste, desiring him not
Nor aspiring to his intimacy or his kiss

5. So he was forced by my attitude
To a cunning subtler than his tricks

6. And I did not cease to gently seduce him
Seduce him gradually like a bird its fledglings

7. Until when I had him balanced
Above my hands, his thighs with their weight

8. I stabbed him and he crumpled, and I said to him
“By my spear in your eye if you but kick”

9. “Be patient if Time bites you, for none
Is more patient with Time than its stallion”