Do you give yourself to me utterly,
Body and no-body, flesh and
Not as a fugitive, blindly or bitterly,
But as a child might, with no other wish?
Yes, utterly.
Then I shall bear you down my estuary,
Carry you and ferry you to burial mysteriously,
Take you and receive you,
Consume you, engulf you,
In the huge cave, my belly, love
With huge waves continually.
And you shall cling and clamber
And slumber there, in that dumb chamber,
Beat with my blood's beat, hear my heart
Blindly in bones that ride above you,
Delve in my flesh, dissolved and bedded,
Through viewless valves embodied so –Till daylight, the expulsion and awakening,
The riving and the driving forth,
Life with remorseless forceps beckoning –Pangs and betrayal of harsh birth.
