We talked of things but all the time we wanted each other
And finally we were silent and I knelt above your body
A closing of eyes
And falling unfalteringly
Over a warm pure country and something crying
When I was a child things being hurt made me sorry for them
but it seemed the way men and women did
And I had not made the world
I wanted so not to hurt you
And giving out of it like a sudden pouring of salt
Later being tired and over-flowing with tenderness
Girl’s body to boy’s body lying there
And wondering what it had been
We got to our feet very quiety,
So that they would not waken
But we felt their shy, sorrowful look
Upon us as we left them alone there
~Kenneth Patchen
