War and Love/"I Do Not Even Scorn..."
I
I do not even scorn your lovers—
They clasped an image of you, a cloud,
Not the whole life of you that's mine.
II
I do not even pity my mistresses—
Such a poor shadow of desire
Their half-warm passion drew from me.
III
You are a delicate Arab mare
For whom there is but one rider;
I am a sea that takes joyfully
Only one straight ship upon my breast.
IV
Look, like a dark princess whose beauty
Many have sung, you wear me
The one jewel that is warmed by your breast.
V
See, as a soldier wearying of fighting
Turns for peace to some golden city,
So do I enter you, beloved.
VI
The scarlet that stains your lips and breast-points—
Let it be my blood that dyes them,
My very blood so gladly yielded.
VII
Let it be your flesh and only your flesh
That fashions for me a child
Whose beauty only shall be less than yours!
VIII
Everlasting as the sea round the islands
I cry at your door for love, more love,
Everlasting as the roll of the sea
My blood beats always for you, for you,
Everlasting as the unchangeable sea
I cry the infinite for space to love you!
IX
Earth of the earth, body of the earth,
Flesh of our mother, life of all things,
A flower, a bird, a rock, a tree,
Thus I love you, sister and lover;
Would that we had one mother indeed
That we might be bound closer by shame.