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.