Reluctant Bride

Headlines in a Bombay tabloid
“Reluctant Bride
Strangled in Bed”

just married
she left her parents' house

and after the ceremony
her husband
brought her to his house
they ate a meal
went to bed

he wanted sex
she declined
politely

he insisted
she refused
they argued

while she slept
he wound
cloth around her neck
and pulled

he wanted sex
got an empty body

he turns
the blood's blade
against himself
drips confession
on the strangled limpness
that was briefly his wife.