Use simple words, first words,
The ones bathed in milk,
Use words as history has used them.
Let them sing of tenderness and longing
Like a cowboy’s slide guitar.
“I am altered,” you said,
As I rose above you,
As we pulled each other
Into the darkness of earth.
You rise up in me like a cry
From the depths of the river,
I hold you in my mind the way
Earth holds you, firm and true.
