Sonnet: Revelry Unraveled

The Maenads drink and dance until they rest
Unslippered in the glade upon the mount.
For Dionysus, each will bare her breast
And suckle goats and lions beyond count.
Ferocity and languor hold their place
In every woman touched by sparks divine.
Her freedom and her fury on her face-
She is the god's and never shall be mine.
What drove her to this madness of the god
Who celebrates a first and second birth?
She bears no kindness now for mortal rod,
Carousing with an otherworldly mirth.
I long for her return into my arms
Yet am no match for Dionysus' charms.

(c) 2012 March 4