Like Deneuve's Hands, Possibly 2

How strange to see you savagely
pulling weeds along the garden fence,
your blonde hair uncombed --- left
for the wind to shape
as drizzled silk, sexy malice
toward Spring and the fungus umbrellas
of March.

No gloves on your actress hands
just some lanolin that shines
in this damp sunlight. On screen
you touched men with slender
fingers and water lily coolness
that sated their heat, their desire
for a French nymph ---la noyée
risen from The Seine's left bank.

Now on Sunday morning
you rip out the nerve endings
of a scene that needles your faith.
Fraying vine and curled leaf
tie you to the memory
of a bed. Its carved headboard
became an oak pergola
for the German girl sleeping
beneath on the hotel's satin
sheets, her hand leaning against
the hand of your husband ringed
with a golden O, antique monogram
standing for only, and keep thine self
only for her. But what did that signify?

You feel the clouds darken. Steady rain,
its guttural accent falling
too close.
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La noyee means "The drowned one or girl" in French. In Parisian Cinema, the term was attributed to vulnerable
female characters who were destined to drown in angst or tragic love which dominated the film's storyline.