On a painting by Jose Jimenez Aranda,
http://www.tanos.org.uk/pictures/10317.html
She sits alone amid the milling crowd, head bowed in shame
To hide her burning tears.
A placard round her neck shows age and name:
Rhodon – a rose; and barely eighteen years.
Her long dark tresses falling to her waist,
Her youthful body naked - on display
The merchant cries, “What price for one so chaste?”
And likely buyers wonder what to pay.
Sadly she waits for what her fate will be
And from afar I ponder on her grace.
Were she my slave then cherished she would be
And kneeling at my feet her proper place,
As trusting slave, her duty to serve me.
What would I give to save her from disgrace –
To make her mine and bind her close to me?
To bind her close so when we are apart
Rope marks upon her skin appear
And show the strongest ties of all come from the heart
And loving servitude conveys no fear.
