once a daughter came to harm
in tender woodland night
pin-boned by two velvet arms 
and turned a bloodless white 

when cried out the mothers, “oh, 
who done this deed tonight?” 
i tied a ribbon round my throat
to hide the silver’s bite 

and i hear the echoes of my mother, 
as the smile carved her neck, 
gentle and red-filled as a lover: 
"beware them who call you daughter"

what my gentle father teaches
is to honor what we slay 
but i split a devil into pieces, 
and i threw the bones away

one man, he would’ve called that wasteful
another would call it a crime
but the third, he proudly found it tasteful 
and put his hand in mine 

and i hear the echoes of my mother, 
as the smile carved her neck, 
gentle and red-filled as a lover: 
"beware them who call you daughter" 

if my tale [bad word] a whisper
out of their maneating mouths
know that those same lips once kissed her:
their daughter, so devout

and i hear the echoes of my mother,
as the smile carved her neck, 
gentle and red-filled as a lover: 
"beware them who call you daughter" 

my tears are wiped by steady fingers
as the smile carves my neck 
and he whispers, gentle as a lover,
his belly fed, as i am bled:
he calls me “daughter”