Once

by Enid Baron

hungry mouths bit and pulled me, tore me like beaks, and I flowed rich and sweet, the bleat of a lamb-child made me surge, cream-thick, nipples rubber hungry for the lip clamp, the tick tock time soaked me like a bather, stained me with splashes, and I was sucked like honey, I rose swollen in the sun bright morning, and the course of my life ran clear.