couplets
for Angela
across the race
an otherness is in place
in birds and animals
the same two variables
in wildflowers and weeds
the same two breeds
so admirably distinct
as to be finely linked
in our own foolish race
a beauty is in place
an honour that is most
manhandled and most lost:
to know the privilege
it is, to cross the bridge
*
it is long since
I lost and found my sense
in that pure circumstance
in the dear entrance
to thought, words, music
to Dame Nature’s physic
to a song of time and place
to a travelogue of the face
to the body’s marathon
the fine muscle of women and men
to all the tribal array
to a great firework-display
to a billioning mind
to the Earth-brand
*
we have gone by
in few words, a far way
a word past compromise
is ours to ask, refuse
or receive in wonder.
On a crisp day in winter
I have come to lay my head
upon your sofa-bed.
Do you hear the night’s demand?
Come to me by mind,
come to me by body
my hostess, my lady,
come in love’s sweet sense.
Come to me in innocence.