Pasiphaë
My imagining of a popular event in the Roman Arena
Drums pound.
A bewildered girl’s led out
to play Pasiphaë.
Pasiphaë! Nymph's brat, Queen to King Minos,
took such a fancy to the royal bull
that she contrived to mate with it,
and so she bore the Minotaur.
Her passion–play inspired a spectacle,
frequently acted out,
by great demand,
in Rome’s arenas …
Imagine!
A naked girl –
Tough men,
nearly as nude as I am
grip my arms,
held wide,
to show my trembling body round the ring:
Ten thousand eyes
drinking my helplessness.
Youths whistle,
girl-friends giggle and gloat.
Struggle!
They like to see that,
flash of my animal teeth,
raven hair tossed
in vain.
No doubt they picked a healthy, nubile youngster –
Old men, the connoisseurs, opine,
“A sturdy cow -
Look at those hips!
Strong thighs –
I’ll lay good odds
she’ll please the bull! ”
was tied across a sturdy wooden frame, much like a gymnast’s horse,
There, in the middle of the sand.
They lead me to it...
Up!
her torso stretched along the bar,
her legs down, forced apart,
strapped to the uprights.
Feel it!
My tender nipples press
against the rough unyielding wood,
my quivering soft lips kiss the rough grain
dozens of girls like me have chewed
in ecstatic pain.
Next, the still warm and reeking hide
of a freshly-slaughtered cow
was wrapped across her,
leaving her rump exposed …
Retch at the stench!
The hushed crowd hears me whimper,
sees my sweat
glisten …
A mighty bull
already sexually aroused
was led up to her,
Look at the size of it!
Young women throb,
cling to their boyfriends –
sensing in their warm flesh
what I'm about to feel!
Cruel guards enjoy
mocking my anguished pleas,
my body’s terror squirming
under the cow-hide…
allowed to sniff her
Bull’s breath warms me,
he’s excited now,
the crowd screams “Fuck her!”
as the men haul him back...
and encouraged to mount and mate with her...
He’s straining, furious,
bellowing for my body...
brace my thighs…
The trick generally worked.
Ah!
With a roar,
my conqueror leaps!
Crowd cheering, urging, urging,
drowning my thin high wail -
slim heifer-girl,
I'm crushed!
The terror, humiliation, hideous pain,
the girl-cow endured
defy imagination …:
Legs squirming, ripped by the ropes,
thighs shudder,
loins jerk...
Bite at the wooden beam,
frantic,
blood spurts from my tight-bound wrists …
Squealing with cruellest pleasure,
shrieking in exquisite pain,
feeling my youthful sex forced
evilly open!
Gasping …
ribs crack on the iron-hard wood,
I'm breathless, spew blood,
The agony,
deeper, deeper,
each moment worse …
Aaah!
Bull’s triumphant semen
burning my ruptured flesh!
Few girls survived.
Unlucky ones who did,
were broken utterly …
The beast withdraws.
still loud, he’s led away,
the crowd applaud.
Untied, they make me drag
my bleeding flesh across the sand,
blood vomiting,
mocked by the hooting mob,
Back to the stinking stalls,
where I, my womanhood destroyed,
must slave with broom and shovel –
Handmaid,
pamper the bull
who’s mastered me!
(they have "more to offer" than a bull, much more 
)