Erica Jong - Still Life with Tulips lyrics

Because you did, I too arrange flowers, Watching the pistils just like insolent tongues And the hard, red flesh of the petals Widening beneath my eyes. They move like the hands Of clocks, seeming not to move except When I turn my gaze; then savagely In the white room, they billow and spread Until their redness engulfs me utterly. Mother, you are far away and claim In mournful letters that I do not need you; Yet here in this sunny room, your tulips Devour me, s**ing hungrily My watery nourishment, filling my house Like a presence, like an enemy. Geared to your intervals as the small hand Of a clock repeats the larger, I, Your too-faithful daughter, still drag behind you, Turning in the same slow circles. Across the years and distances, my hands Among these fierce, red blossoms repeat Your gestures. I hope my daughter never writes: 'Because you did, I too arrange flowers.'