Devotional
Now we live our life
upon the marriage breadth
stripped of outer bark,
sawed and planed lengthwise
then jointed in dovetails, and
hand-polished,
confiding as never before
with body-sundering confidence;
the sealed secrecy of youth
opened wide
to leave any light glean
on its grain.
*
One, another. And we
multiplied: how can this
irreducible child
with her speed and gaiety
be? Flesh and blood
exponential in its blue-eyed force,
a genetic bouquet.
A blur as she grows.
Overhearing overhead
the ripple of steps upon floorboards
as we rest arm in arm,
sharing a chair.
Upstairs in the room where we made her,
she plays This Old Man with sticks
on lids from emptied jars.
*
Hear one plea
when I say, let each of us three
live to be old.
Willingly at last would I
place a faith in vacant air,
obediently strung to the buoyant invisible
we stride beneath,
glad-footed trio of marionettes.
*
Because simply
arranging our daughter's bedclothes, with a tug
on the linen releasing
perfume of perspiration and chamomile soap
will set off such trembling
in dissolved morning light;
then folding your clothes
just laundered, dried by the wood stove --
the sense of smell is ravenous
as you know, for these
blessed scents of kin:
the cotton jersey you work in,
or stockings for nights of singing
translucent as fragrance,
jade dress and cream-colored blouse,
mine to hold as I fold them.
*
If I might be
so bold,
if I may --
Give us these days.
upon the marriage breadth
stripped of outer bark,
sawed and planed lengthwise
then jointed in dovetails, and
hand-polished,
confiding as never before
with body-sundering confidence;
the sealed secrecy of youth
opened wide
to leave any light glean
on its grain.
*
One, another. And we
multiplied: how can this
irreducible child
with her speed and gaiety
be? Flesh and blood
exponential in its blue-eyed force,
a genetic bouquet.
A blur as she grows.
Overhearing overhead
the ripple of steps upon floorboards
as we rest arm in arm,
sharing a chair.
Upstairs in the room where we made her,
she plays This Old Man with sticks
on lids from emptied jars.
*
Hear one plea
when I say, let each of us three
live to be old.
Willingly at last would I
place a faith in vacant air,
obediently strung to the buoyant invisible
we stride beneath,
glad-footed trio of marionettes.
*
Because simply
arranging our daughter's bedclothes, with a tug
on the linen releasing
perfume of perspiration and chamomile soap
will set off such trembling
in dissolved morning light;
then folding your clothes
just laundered, dried by the wood stove --
the sense of smell is ravenous
as you know, for these
blessed scents of kin:
the cotton jersey you work in,
or stockings for nights of singing
translucent as fragrance,
jade dress and cream-colored blouse,
mine to hold as I fold them.
*
If I might be
so bold,
if I may --
Give us these days.
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