Succubus (Poem V)

Succubus 

by Bradley Steffens
Written	1988
First published in	1988
Language	English
Publisher	The Bellingham Review
Publication date	Spring 1988
Lines	30

For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).

Succubus is a poem written by Bradley Steffens and released on the author's website in 2007. The work originally appeased in The Bellingham Review in 1988.

Succubus

Succubus
by Bradley Steffens

arrives unseen at the window ledge,

parts gauzy curtains around slim hips,

waits while her opal eyes, teared with flight,

adjust to darkness.

On the double bed, a man

lies on his back, naked under the sheet

as always. As always his nightgowned wife

sleeps at mattress edge, curled like a fist.

The demon raises her slender arms

high overhead, lifting the hem of the curtain,

letting the pale fabric billow like angels’ wings

in a private parody of the annunciation.

She smiles at her dominion.

In a step she stands at bedside, gently

slips the sheet from her victim’s form,

tracing the curve of his shoulders

with her fingertips.

Lips meet. Then tongues.

Teeth lightly click on teeth until

she lowers and fills herself in one motion.

All night long she takes, takes, enjoying

the human’s secret thoughts and desires

without his knowledge.

Yet in that violation the fiend

asks nothing, requires nothing, leaves the man

to awaken to a blue and empty room

with no memory of the transgression, only

the curious but certain sensation

that the whole of this world somehow exceeds

the sum of its visible parts.

Commentary by the Author

Bradley Steffens made the following comments about this work in a discussion:

I thought I would add that this poem originally appeared in The Bellingham Review, Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 1988. Shelley Rozen, editor. I consider Succubus the best poem I have ever written--and as you can see from my page, I have written and published quite a lot. Also, while I am the author of 28 nonfiction books, I have always considered myself a poet, first and last. So it means a lot to me that this poem I think so highly of is gaining a larger audience thanks to your efforts.

External Links

• The original source of this poem at www.ibnalhaytham.net/ - No Longer Available
• The author's website - No Longer Available