When Ned refuses to leave his wife, Maria attempts to kill herself. The Water nymph Syrinx also tried to drown herself before being turned to a pipe by Pan.

 

After the painting Pan and Psyche

 

Was the water Syrinx dived into too shallow,

the river drunk to a puddle by a droughty sun?

 

Did Syrinx wail like Cassandra before she leapt,

or the Water Nymphs turn Maria to a reed?

 

Was Maria too fine-spun to sink,

the goat god watch the slender stalk float?

 

Who scooped Maria out by a hoof,

took his lips to her?

 

Who manacled Syrinx on his arm,

led her into the dim streets?

 

What song did Pan play on Maria,

what music did he make of her?

 

 

 

 

 

As Ned and Maria’s love become more intense, he draws on the myth of Phyllis, who is trapped in a tree until her lover Demophon’s embrace frees her.

 

After the painting The Tree of Forgiveness

 

How long does he stand there

twisting the white wreath in his hand like a rosary?

 

All winter she has slept in the dark bark

and now she breaks into blossom with his touch.

 

He has one foot forward as if running,

one foot pressed back against her roots.

 

She is a flesh trap, a pale brace

and he writhes in her grasp like an animal.

 

Phyllis wears the split trunk like a manacle

as they push and pull.

 

The earth has them fixed fast

in this coupling. Only when it relinquishes hold

will they be free.

 

 

 

 

Burne Jones and the Fox

 

He’s taken to walking the alleys behind his house

in the evening, and the fox appears suddenly

on the other side of the road.

 

She’s standing at the entrance to the scrubland

and starts backing up when she sees him,

her amber eyes supplicating.

 

Ned still has Maria’s letter crushed

in his pocket, the one in which she asks him to leave.  

 

The gold notes in the vixen’s eyes deepen

as if with disappointment, before she turns.

 

The fox can rise from the darkness each night

without danger,

but Ned is scared of the heft of stone

the rock being pushed before the door.

 

A tip of red, like a brush dipped in paint

is twitching as the vixen turns.

 

Georgie is building a fire, turning up the gas

in each room as Ned steps backwards toward the house.