And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. GENESIS 29:20
1
in winter when each day is harvested
we come out of darkness into the light
of a fire built from what is left over
with our decisions postponed
and our shadows no longer wearing
their daytime shoes
it is as if we have something to say
to the fire but we keep forgetting
later when you are asleep
I walk through these rooms
adjusting my mask to the silence
the fire is dying and outside
the moon is a knock waiting with no door
2
we came out of childhood into a room
with all its vases waiting for flowers
into a luxury of absent flowers
and the light was different
how easily the moon insinuates herself
among the clouds how shyly she undresses
and how quickly she reclines
with my hands reaching
to lock the door which was opening
in the moment it was opening I noticed
the simplicities
I had removed from my pockets
and left on a table by the wrong bed
for anyone to see
these things have never been resolved
will never be resolved
3
do not believe what they say about me
it is true but it is not the truth
the truth is hidden
in the brain of a green bird who cannot sing
the truth is in one seed of a pomegranate
among thousands of pomegranates
the truth is on the moon’s white lips
as she sinks into the sea
strange silent lady
worshipped by men who lie in the mud
beneath her slender foot
4
finding they cannot walk on water
some men sink while others
go into the desert and never return
the sea is willing the sea accepts everything
but those who walk in the desert
travel in circles and arrive
always at the same place
with dawn close behind them
trailing frail light as if it were hair
walking in the desert
I have begun to see into my body’s rivers
whose banks are ivory and pearl
with bridges of muscle stretching above them
pulsing in time to the music of the nerves
inside the bones the light
is failing but I see small things
crawling over the floor on urgent business
like beetles on strings
I see into my sex and it is not
a jewel it is a small fire
tended by old men who are dying
a small fire in a great dark house
where the wind comes through the walls
and a book turns its own pages carefully
so as not to miss anything
I read in the book that all the glory
of the kings I have not known
and all the beauty of the queens
will die when that fire dies
5
then I take my tongue to your body
letting it wander blind over your ribs
as if each were one string of a harp
leaving no string untouched
we reach our hands deep into one another
and if they come up at all
they come up full of poetry the moon
a few stars and a silence rinsed in blood
who dares speak against that silence
let him speak
I have loved you honestly
with all my crooked heart and gently
as darkness comes to water
and in passion with the storm
of all the nothings I have ever said
one word remains
I wear it as a wafer on my tongue
it is your name
6
bind up the sagging breasts of morning
oh my darling let the light in
your hair is more beautiful than dawn
we have arrived years later
at the starting place
now we shall begin again
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