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Jill, Rebecca, Alison Too many points raised on this matter to deal with comprehensively, so if you don't mind I'll just go back to the poem. Yes, obviously it is about desire, but also desire in a context of servitude. Something that strikes me very markedly is the lack of agitation in the rhythm, it's very calm, whereas the ostensible speaker is in a situation of desiring what cannot be had, something I'd suggest would be likely to produce an inner tension. It can be argued that the deployment of cliché is deliberate but there is nothing either to suggest that it isn't, one if left to guess in effect. I can't help feeling that the poem presents a packaged vignette which does not stimulate a sense of involvement with what it portrays but rather leaves it 'out there' hanging in a kind of representational void. My responses aren't predicated on the gender of the writer, if the same piece had a male authorship I'd feel just the same. Questions both of psychology and social status are implicit in the poem's subject matter yet it seems not to explore them at all. Now of course I could be completely wrong on this but I'm just trying to convey a sincere reaction to a piece of writing. All the Best Dave David Bircumshaw Leicester, England Home Page A Chide's Alphabet Painting Without Numbers http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm