Voodoo Doll

As a token of trust,
I gave my lover my voodoo doll.
Crude straw thing
bound up in a lock of my hair.

At first she coveted it,
placed it above her bed.
A prominent position.
But when the fire of passion dimmed
it seemed to her an ugly thing
and she put it aside
and we grew apart
and she put it away somewhere
and forgot about it.
And forgot about me.

After she left I stopped going out.
Stayed in my room,
watched TV,
and no-one came to call.

Till one day she found it in a box of old things,
as she was moving into her new boyfriend's house.
She threw it out.
And its leg snapped.
And I slipped and broke my leg
in the bath.

And no-one came to call,
not even on my birthday.

As a token of her trust,
my lover gave to me
her voodoo doll.
I treasure it.
Always.