Poem

Cancer by Rudy Mervin
Mothering, nurturingNot crops, or money, like TaurusBut peopleThe sympathetic hand on the browThe home, those wallsThat offer protection to the familyWhere Cancer may retreatIn wounded self-pityFrom the threats of AriesAnd the tactlessness of Sagittarius.
To his left stands GeminiThat past person of frantic wanderingsAnd glib intellectualismThe itinerant pedlarWho through cruel experienceAquired feelingsAnd became Cancer.Gemini, whose secret yearningFor protection against random misfortuneMade him build four walls.
To his right is LeoHis future.Oh, to be a personWith the power of command,To whom others dare not render insult.Oh, to be powerfulAnd not powerlessOutside those four secure walls.
Cancer renders fealty to LeoSo that Leo will protect his home and childrenAnd in returnSends his children into battleTo protect the national homeWhich Leo commands.And it is through patriotismThat feeling of identificationWith those walls outside of wallsThat Cancer aspires to securityWithin his environment.
Cancer feels at cross-purposesWith Aries and Libra.Aries, with those piercing eyesFull of contemptAnd that aura of potential violenceMakes Cancer retreat into timidity.
And Aries cannot be won overBy pity and hurt looksAnd tears make him scornfulFor he only respects strength,And has liking for vivacious conversationAnd a battle of wits, adventure,And the thrill of the chase,And Cancer avoids struggleExcept where the home or childrenAre concerned,And here the battle is not for sport,But to the death.
And Libra,Why, that woman, with all her airsCannot even make a decisionAnd stick to it.She is always rearranging her homeInto more and more uncomfortable patternsAs if it were a work of artAnd not a place to live and work.And always saying "On the other hand,"Endlessly, as if she had more than two.Why, if she, Cancer, were like LibraShe would no doubt have a dozen breastsLike Sirius the dog.Yes, that woman gave herself airsDressing like a high-class harlotIn light blues and pinks, frilly thingsAs if she were some kind of babyPretending to be helpless,Though not with wanting a motherBut another man.-Though who would want to be marriedTo Aries, with his wild and selfish ways,And to cope with the man,-Why, I'd have to give her credit there,But certainly no credit for good judgment.Well, she's ruined many a manWith her endless quest for perfect loveAnd insistence on RomanceThat I suppose they deserve each other.Why, I heard from GeminiThat she had an affair with Scorpio last year,Though what a man like thatWith true feelingsWould want with light fluffWhen he has TaurusWith her lovely voluptuous bodyAnd true, practical feelings-Well, Scorpio is a man, and highly sexed,And he gave me a look the other dayThat I knew saw deep inside me.
Oh, to have a man like ScorpioStrong and patient, and so knowingWhen the mother wants to be mothered!And Pisces is another oneWho knows exactly how you feelWithout wordsAs if it was himself that lost the childAnd not me.Such a compassionate manSo warm, and I gave him cookiesWith honey, and milkFor every tear he shed.And before he left that nightHe played some tunes on his fiddleThat even had old Capricorn dancing.And Taurus sang, and LeoDid a fine bit of theatre,And Gemini mimicked the lot of us'Til we were in tears.Oh, it's so nice to haveGood friends over!
I was over at the Blacksmith ShopAnd there was VirgoCrafting away - such a fine manI swear he's getting youngerAs he gets older, just like old CapricornWho hasn't changed since he was twentyAnd I was twenty, and thoughtI'd married an older man.
But Virgo has been married twice,Once to GeminiThough that didn't work outBecause they bothWanted to talk at the same timeAnd nobody was listening.Now, Virgo is a good catchFor an honest woman.He's hard-working and carefulWith his money,Though he'll always work for someone else,Unlike old CapricornWho has a position in the governmentAnd can make our homeAs secure as Leo's castle.
Taurus and I have always got along.There's a good honest, hard-working woman.She keeps a nice, comfortable houseAnd we can go on all dayAbout the renovations we are doing.One thing about her-It's hard getting her startedBut once startedShe'll see it right through.She's practical, and doesn't take risksExcept for putting her money in the bank.Myself, I'll put mine under the floorboardsWhere I can put my hand on it.
Sagittarius and AquariusNow, there's a pair of n'er do wells,The one always off on long tripsTo far-off places - I swearHe'll end up with a home in a foreign land.And he's never learned any mannersOr consideration for the feelings of others.For all his talk of gaining wisdomFrom speaking with foreignersAs if anybody else knows as muchAs those in our own homeland.If he bought some landAnd built himself a home right hereHe'd learn good, old-fashioned wisdomRight at the mother's kneeSo to speak.
And AquariusAlways sounding off about the poor,As if their lazinessWasn't responsible for their poverty,And always talkingAbout the meaning of planetary positionsAs if the beauty of the starsThat God put there for his gloryWasn't enough for any god-fearing man.Why, he even talked about a property tax,As if any sane person would risk his homeTo give some lazy do-nothingFood he could earn by the sweat of his brow.And as for the truly poor,Why, they wouldn't come to my houseIf I wasn't charitableAnd generous with my baking.