Adrienne Rich — Two Songs

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.