Possession Denied or Reimagining John Henry Fuseli’s Nightmare

she succumbs to sleep,
her surrender supreme
flesh loose and fluid                                           
stripped bare by light too white,
her swan throat naked, gleaming, teasing 
in supplication to the incubus 
who surmounts her  
ugly and smug 

Maybe
this is not a tale of possession, but a vision of obsession, where

voyeurs of unrepentant greed slaver 
over images like this
of women held siege by the thrall of sleep,  
stretched out ripe and ready,
supple, pliable and nicely lithe.
visions of lustful need.a
Is this her nightmare or his dream?

Look again. Perhaps she lies in slumbrous ease 
robed and draped, impervious to need.
deeply sleeping, withholding virtues and gifts
of which the greedy can only dream
supine, yet unresigned.

Possession denied.
 

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Thanks for writing!
Jacqueline