by you, i learned

[to verdad]

my fond
self indulgence
once preened,
thought,
"splendid choice"--
you.

then conceit,
absent a sense
of its fatality,
answered to,
did i wish
to honor,
to take on
the pliance
of a soft
length of yarn,
be woven
into your life?

i foresaw
the freedom
from history's knot;
the yarn of me,
long cramped,
stretched out,
to adorn
your mien.

that yarn
could only comply
escaped me
(schooled
to the jackboot).

i had
to learn
my necessity,
worked in
your fingers:
to bend
to your plait.

but for
your weave,
i'd be a
bit of thread
dropping
among
scraps
on the floor;
spilled water,
evaporating
from the ground.

you dipped
into my need,
cupped
my being
in your hand.
i melted
to the shape
of your fingers
the liquid
of me
found shelter.

as water
'chooses'
the furrow,
i chose,
sinking
inevitably
to the depth.
of your heart.

my love,
lost insistent form,
the preen;
i learned
to subside
in rivulets
welcomed
in crevices
of unknown
provenance.

you tore
at my
cloud covering;
drove
my rainburst;

my being
fell in
droplets.
i was taken
into the earth
of you.