A Woman's Reply to Delmore
The heavy bear who goes with me ...
Stretches to embrace the very dear
With whom I would walk without him near
Touches her grossly, although a word
Would bare my heart and make me clear
--Delmore Schwartz
At the zoo, two sun bears approach each other
down in their pit. They are big fuzzy things
whose brown chests are stamped like targets with rings.
They sniff at each other and stamp and roar
up at the people, who point and grin.
Why do you think I want your words more
than your belly and bone, covered in fur?
The bears lick each other a bit, then turn
together away from us and lumber
to their cave. We wait for something mysterious,
but the cave's furred shadows remain in dusk.
Around me the crowd dissipates. Delmore,
all of our leaps, not just yours, end in gravity.
Wake up, take something--my sun, my honey--from me.