Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Open, Later, Though the Edge is Dried and Frayed









Open, Later, Though the Edge is Dried and Frayed

From the lonely cliff-tops, the stag
bells and makes the whole glen shake
and re-echo.  I am ravished.
Unearthly sweetness shakes my breast.
                                                Seamus Heaney
                                                Sweeny in Flight



I want this for you, when you can, in a year
or two, after the buried
dead are finished
rising to stand by your bed, collecting
like ushers near the end of the service
like they did that day
two thousand
stood in pockets and rows
and you, between the two Legionairs, collapse in their arms…

I want another usher, a hand to plunge you into the abandon
                                                                        of her sweet skin
                                                                        her urgent cheek
                                                                        covering your dark conservation
                                                            things people will never know
                                                            or want to guess
                                                            or think you deserve:
                                                           
                                                there is solace in lips
                                                a nose on the bone between the breasts
                                                the shadow on the counterpane
                                                a moan
                                                a moan
                                                a man even after all that!

                                                Abandon.

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