Girlfriends by Carol Ann Duffy

Girlfriends

 

That hot September night, we slept in a single bed,

naked, and on our frail bodies the sweat  

cooled and renewed itself. I reached out my arms  

and you, hands on my breasts, kissed me. Evening of amber.  

  

Our nightgowns lay on the floor where you fell to your knees  

and became ferocious, pressed your head to my stomach,  

your mouth to the red gold, the pink shadows; except  

I did not see it like this at the time, but arched  

  

my back and squeezed water from the sultry air  

with my fists. Also I remembered hearing, clearly  

but distantly, a siren some streets away – de  

  

da de da de da – which mingled with my own  

absurd cries, so that I looked up, even then,  

to see my fingers counting themselves, dancing.