Agrippina the Younger, Age Thirteen

Rome Domitius gives her iron – a ring Agrippina fingers it under her robes while her hair is woven with flowers gold placed on her neck and wrists She thinks of the man    older than her father ever was At the ceremony a pregnant sow is brought forward dark and wreathed in leaves   wine and crumbs from holy cake are dusted on its brow For the goddess Ceres    for Terra Mater for this marriage   A man raises his ax blunt-side down   strikes the sow slices the stunned animal’s throat   opens her belly    The priest pushes fetal piglets aside handles the entrails close to his eyes looking for flaws    Once signaled another man places the insides on an altar for burning Domitius watches Agrippina while the men butcher the pig    char the guts    She does not look away The priest steps into the blood   face covered   prays in whispers   a flute drowning out any ominous sounds