Within a Sky Full of Earth

JANUARY 2008 ISSUE • FROM READINGS SECTION • PAGE 31

I Met a Seducer

One day a seducer met a seducer
now said one   what do we do
fly into each other's arms said
the other   ugh said one   they turned
stood back to back   one
looked over one's shoulder   smiled
shyly   other turned seconds
too late   made a lovelier
shy smile   oh my dear said other
my own dear   said one
BY GRACE PALEY
[from her collection Fidelity, to be published in March by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Paley died last year at the age of eighty-four just after finishing the manuscript of her last book.]