THE GIRLS IN THE POOLROOM

The girls in the poolroom
Were out on their own limbs.

How could I help
But make men of them?

There was Emily
Who was lovely and tall and slim.

I used to meet her in the pub
And sometimes she came home.

She raved about Albert Camus
And the twenty-third psalm.

I asked her once, 'Are you asleep?'
She said, 'I am. I am.'

Paul Muldoon
i Mules (1977)