Omphale

Here I am sitting in your garden world...
Made up pretty by your dancing maidens.
You observe me with a superior smile...
Because I can't hide my frustration.

To redeem myself for misogynist tendencies...
I submit to you...I am your slave.
I have used hands and words to cause harm and discord...
Now I must be taught to behave.

Omphale...in my vestment with my weapon at your side...
I must now be made to understand.
That our roles can be so easily reversed...
Now I am your "woman" and you are the "man".

Your maids in waiting dance around me and laugh...
I must stand there in humility.
But I must take all this in stride...
These blows to my masculinity.

I have caused so much pain...
To my friends and to my family.
But I can't lay the blame entirely on the Gods above...
For my lapses into destructive insanity.

I sit patiently at Omphale's feet...
As she spin thread on her wheel.
I sit proper and prim; spindle in hand...
Learning how the other half feels.