(to my lover gazing out the window)

Because I am here
anchoring you
to the passionate darkness,
you gaze out the window
at the light.

My love is the thing
that frees you
to follow your eyes,

as your love,
a sword made of moonlight
and blood,
and smelling of sex
and salt marshes,
frees me to gaze
with a calm inward
eye.

In all your frenzied searching
you never stood
calmly at the window.

But now the sea,
the city and the sky
are all seen
as if from a perch
at the edge of the cosmos,
where I sit behind you
gazing
at the fire.

© Erica Mann Jong

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