First, I had had a thought so                                 unnerving

I went cold all over, in the heat.                           What if I

love this man, whom I hardly                               know,

more than I’ve loved any other man,                    and at

once I was a water                                                 fountain,

at grammar school, in the hall, a                            bubbler,

I was bubblering, I had turned                                into

a water-bearer who couldn’t                                    bear but

blubbered her water with gulpy                               blubbers

on a hot summer day.                                                 Years ago,

I had been a sudden desert                                            fountain

most days, at old love’s fresh                                         sudden end.

And now, here I am,                                                         again,

but not in my cherryskin armor,                                         again,

not with my cherry bow and                                                juice-tipped

arrows and dried cherry                                                        jerkin

and quiver, and cherry scenthound—                                       not that

aging cherry Artemis again,                                                         it feels

different, now, with this humorous                                                 curious

man, I feel as if we                                                                            may be

the distilled fruit, the liquor itself,                                                       as if I’m

in the interior of new                                                                             love’s

mouth, I am safe, under his                                                                   tongue.

And under my own tongue,                                                                    look

who you see—look!, perfectly safe, it is                                                  he.