Two Songs

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

1.

Sex, as they harshly call it,

I fell into this morning

at ten o’clock, a drizzling hour

of traffic and wet newspapers.

I thought of him who yesterday

clearly didn’t

turn me to a hot field

ready for plowing,

and longing for that young man

pierced me to the roots

bathing every vein, etc.

All day he appears to me

touchingly desirable,

a prize one could wreck one’s peace for.

I’d call it love if love

didn’t take so many years

but lust too is a jewel

a sweet flower and what

pure happiness to know

all our high-toned questions

breed in a lively animal.

2.

That “old last act”!

And yet sometimes

all seems post coitum triste

and I a mere bystander.

Somebody else is going off,

getting shot to the moon.

Or a moon-race!

Split seconds after

my opposite number lands

I make it–

we lie fainting together

at a crater-edge

heavy as mercury in our moonsuits

till he speaks–

in a different language

yet one I’ve picked up

through cultural exchanges…

we murmur the first moonwords:

Spasibo. Thanks. O.K.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English

An Arab Shepherd Is Searching For His Goat On Mount Zion by Yehuda Amichai by Yehuda Иехуда (Ludwig ) Amichai ‏יהודה עמיחי‏ Амихай (Pfeuffer)
A Precise Woman by Yehuda Amichai by Yehuda Иехуда (Ludwig ) Amichai ‏יהודה עמיחי‏ Амихай (Pfeuffer)
A Pity, We Were Such A Good Invention by Yehuda Amichai by Yehuda Иехуда (Ludwig ) Amichai ‏יהודה עמיחי‏ Амихай (Pfeuffer)
A Jewish Cemetery In Germany by Yehuda Amichai by Yehuda Иехуда (Ludwig ) Amichai ‏יהודה עמיחי‏ Амихай (Pfeuffer)
A Dog After Love by Yehuda Amichai by Yehuda Иехуда (Ludwig ) Amichai ‏יהודה עמיחי‏ Амихай (Pfeuffer)
Straw sandal half sunk by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Sparrow singing by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Ploughing the land by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Old well by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Not quite dark yet by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
My arm for a pillow by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Listening to the moon by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Lighting one candle by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Yosa Buson – Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Hokku Poems in Four Seasons by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
His Holiness the Abbot by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
He’s on the porch by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Harvest moon by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Evening wind by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村
Elegy to the Old Man Hokuju by Yosa Buson by Yosa Ёса Buson Бусон 与謝蕪村