The Widow’s Cock

It seems that life is always fought between
a fox and cock. The latter struts about
his house as King David, his wives arrayed
on beds of hay. The fox, a cunning lout,
requests that King Cock’s rigour be displayed.
A widow, once, was gifted such a cock
and stalked by such a fox. That night she locked
her new monarch inside with his new brides.
The foolish Cock let Noble Fox come in,
and just as Cock’s veins tautened in the shaft
of its long neck, so that music
might issue forth, the fox bit down
and choked the chicken’s warbling.
The widow woke, and stepped out to unlock
the henhouse door. Instead she saw the cock,
the bloody state of which no priest could bless.
‘Just like a man’ she spat. ‘Gives out ‘is cock
like it’s a gift, and lets you clean the mess.’