The Whore of Sorek

by Beth - Scorpio

Had the curve of my hip 
been carved any other way- 
and maybe 
if the line of my lips 
or the shape of my eyes 
been more subtle- 
then perhaps he would not have fit so well 
in the sway of my back. 
But then- 
this is a role I was born to play. 
I do not wear bells on my feet, 
though I jingle in time to the swaying of 
my treacherous hips. 
If truth be told, 
no silver needed to cross my palm, 
I was not slaying lions after all- 
Only a man. 


I betrayed him once. 
My arrowless bow strings 
in tatters at his feet, proof of my 
deceit. 
But still he would come to my chamber. 
Perhaps if my skin had been fairer, 
coarser, and less spiced, 
he would have turned from me and 
cast me to judgement as he did her before me. 
I called him a liar 
as I languished in my chamber 
his head upon my lap. 
I wailed that he did not love me 
that if he did, 
he would tell me no lies. 
“I want to know your weakness” 
I purred. 

Again I betrayed him. 
Bound to my deceit by the 
ropes that lay 
flayed at his feet. 
His vengeance did not come and yet 
he would lay beside me, 
knowing of my duplicity 
and still wanting me all the more. 
Again I declared him a liar. 
I pouted that he did not love me 
that he did not trust me, 
and with the taste of my tongue on his lips 
I asked again 
“what is your weakness?” 

Thrice I betrayed him- 
laid bare for him my treachery, 
my trickster tongue as tangled 
as the golden tresses I had hewn and weaved, 
lay knotted and broken 
at his naked feet. 
And still he would come to my chamber, 
clamour atop of me, 
sink himself deep inside me in a relentless 
stabbing until he choked the cries from my throat. 

Despite my perfidious actions 
I stated him a liar, and wailed 
that he did not love me, 
that if he truly loved me 
he would open his chest and allow me 
the honour of knowing 
the secrets contained within. 
“I want to know your weakness” 
I purred, 
trailing my finger down his chest in a swirl. 
And if I slipped him a potion 
it was nothing more than what had been asked of me- 
for I could not risk the clanging of my bell otherwise. 

They did not know how I wept 
as his hair was shorn from his head. 
They did not tell of how my eyes spurned him 
as he transformed from God to man. 
No they only tell of the glint of silver in my eyes 
and proclaim me the whore of Sorek. 
They did not say how I had loathed him so. 
The last and greatest of the Judges of Israel, 
they supposed that his strength be magical in some way 
and when they came to me 
his favoured of whores 
and crossed my palms with silver 
they begged to know his secret. 
Foolish men! 
To believe the cutting of his hair to be 
the thing with which they could bind and defeat him. 
No other could have done this 
No other could have brought the mighty Samson to his knees 
Did I not say this was a role I was born to play? 
Samson’s real weakness, 
Was not the seven locks of his hair, 
It was Delilah, Judas with a **** 

It was me.
Birth sign: Scorpio
Date created: 2008-05-26 22:13:56
Last updated: 2021-04-14 17:18:17
Poem ID: 71812

You need to log in to edit this poem if it is yours.

View more poems by Beth.