Jade

JADE by Rosemarie Rowley I knew you fainthearted what side you were on When you talked of social reality: not Jesus at the well With the Samaritan woman, or the invisible loss of power Which halts her speech and causes His deference Holding her in trust for what she is. You can talk of rural communes in China Till the cows come home – leading them will be a girl Bearing a key-ring and a dead black raven. Your ways are sweet indeed, nectar and honey And vinegar to end it all: you’d let all the Wells in the world run dry for a principle And proudly show us the papier-mache women who survived, Embalmed with bitter hope and urgent salvation, To tell the tale on electro-magnetic tape.