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I have robbed the garrulous streets, Thieved a fair girl from their blight, I have stolen her for a sacrifice That I shall make to this mysteried night.
I have brought her, laughing, To my quietly sinister garden. For what will be done there I ask no man’s pardon.
I brush the rouge from her cheeks, Clean the black kohl from the rims Of her eyes; loose her hair’ Uncover the glimmering, shy limbs.
I break wild roses, scatter them over her. The thorns between us sting like love’s pain. Her flesh, bitter and salt to my tongue, I taste with endless kisses and taste again.
At dawn I leave her Asleep in my wakening garden, (For what was done there I ask no man’s pardon.)
Goodlow brings the “fair girl” to her garden to have sex - this imagery heavily contrasts the beginning of the poem where she has found this “fair girl” on the “garrulous streets” - she’s taken her from a public, noisy place to her “quietly sinister garden” for privacy. It’s interesting to note that gardens evoke ideas of private nature - you can be both outside and exposed but also in the private of your own property. Garden of Eden imagery is also present here, especially as Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit is seen as the genesis of sin in the Bible.
Taylor uses garden imagery in her work and I think she wants to evoke similar imagery, especially including the garden scene from Romeo and Juliet and how much that further evokes the ideas of forbidden love.