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.

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Poems in English 

• Letters to the Otherworld by Fledermaus
• English Poetry. Katharine Tynan. A Woman Commends Her Little Son. Кэтрин Тайнен. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Francis Turner Palgrave. A Churchyard in Oxfordshire. Фрэнсис Тернер Палгрев. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Adam Lindsay Gordon. The Rhyme of Joyous Garde. Адам Линдсей Гордон. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Mary Wortley Montagu. Epigram, 1734. Мэри Уортли Монтегю. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Christina Georgina Rossetti. A Christmas Carol. Кристина Джорджина Россетти. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Adam Lindsay Gordon. Bellona. Адам Линдсей Гордон. by Poetry In English
• The Azure Sea of an alien tongue by Fledermaus
• Happy Victory Day – May 9, 2022 by Fledermaus
• English Poetry. Rupert Chawner Brooke. The Vision of the Archangels. Руперт Брук. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Wait. Элла Уилкокс. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 29. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 34. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 23.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 26. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 21.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 20. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 42. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 9. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English
• English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 45. Филип Джеймс Бэйли. by Poetry In English

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