hatever that man may claim
I did not turn him into a worm.
If I had it in my power

to change a man's true nature,
wouldn't I have made him love me?
How I lavished him with gifts:
 
a cup of gold ringed round with jewels
a scarlet cloak with flowers and a fringe
my body, not the least of all.
 
He turned away.  He called me—
never mind what he called me.
I saw him clearly then.
 
I called him by his name.
That was all.
               It's true it pleased me
 
to see him slither flaccid
about the upright oak
in thrall to its proud heft
 
as I had been to him
till I'd remembered myself witch
with better things to do
 
like striding alone through wind and rain
shaping words,
the only power I'll ever need.
 
I'll admit I asked him,
"Which of us
is ugly now?"
 
Silently he slid his soft length
along the unyielding trunk.
And there he would have stayed
 
except that, after a season or two,
a lonely queen happened by.
"Oh my prince, my prize!"
 
"At last, I am myself
again," he exulted.
I watched them go
 
she wreathing him
with indulgent smiles,
he trailing slime.