Orders of Affection
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Once in Ohio
I would have done almost anything Not to have had to see her joining me That first time in the claw-footed tub In Athens, her robe falling and a long Red welt, the kind a bicycle chain Can make, bristling over the ribs, the left Side of her chest. She stood there, And I could make out past her, drifting Through the chute of light at the window, clusters Of snowflakes like scraps of paper from a bonfire, Lifted by their burning and then released. I knew that everything had been changed, And I was afraid, I was like a cedar fitted For the winter with snow; and then she started to Step in, and I helped her sit down facing me As the water rose around us. |