What They Said
: After I am dead, darling,
my seventeen senses gone,
I shall love you as you wish,
no sex, no mouth, but bone —
in the way you long for now,
with my soul alone.
: When we are neither woman nor man
but bleached to skeleton —
when you have changed, my darling,
and all your senses gone,
it is not me that you will love:
you will love everyone.
*
9 comments:
I'd take a wild guess, but I'm afraid you'll all laugh if I'm wrong.
Was it me? Did I write it?
DKM: no one would laugh. We all buddies here.
AJ: No, not you. Unless possibly you in a previous life. (hint hint)
Stevie Smith?
Easy as cake. It is by Muriel Rukeyser.
Yes C Dale is correct.
Stevie Smith was a great guess though DKM. And, funny enough, I was reading the two of them (Stevie and Muriel) together today.
PS: C Dale. Your prize: I'll buy you a drink at AWP. Cheers!
...and even before that
when one of the two has Alzheimer’s, say, his senses
some gone and hers still intact,
their souls touch in a love seat, say, in a nursing home, even...
Rukeyser may have been prompted by Christina Rossetti's "Song" ("When I am dead, my dearest")
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