I
"I smell the sea — it's like a burning passion
In my heart; at the center of my soul's passion?
Moonlight — at the center of all I am;
I've not absolved any of you from pain..."
II
"'Shines
In prose,... writes in the black ink of felt life,'
My critics will say; and then, 'But she loosened blood
On the world';
I say to them now: 'What I left
Is but testimony to how his sin bloomed
In me, to how lost longing bleeds in me alone — me!'"
III
"Tonight I wish I felt the burly desire
Of prayer, for before his absence ruled my destiny,
Before the fasts of my flesh turned into hunger,
I was innocent as you; now my world swims on fire,
And I've not the heart to fan it on, or blow it out anymore..."