Anatomy of Love:
To a Nurse
Dawn comes to where your solid throat and jaw
Lie cupped in fingers not distracted by
This wedding ring, and where your liquid eye
(Behind its frail, fringed lid) twitches in awe
Of nightmare threats both powerful and vague.
You moan, and tremors from your voice pass through
The golden band, through palm and vein on to
My heart where love, as strong as quakes or plague,
Has lain in wait to meet these cruel dreams
And exorcise them with the fevered power
That lurks in lovers’ hands because they scour
The world with hope wherever sunrise gleams.
Sleep on, my love, and let my skin and wrists
Soak up and remedy the poisoned mists.