It is all right. All they do <br />Is go in by dividing <br />One rib from another. I wouldn't <br />Lie to you. It hurts <br />Like nothing I know. All they do <br />Is burn their way in with a wire. <br />It forks in and out a little like the tongue <br />Of that frightened garter snake we caught <br />At Cloverfield, you and me, Jenny <br />So long ago. <br /> <br />I would lie to you <br />If I could. <br />But the only way I can get you to come up <br />Out of the suckhole, the south face <br />Of the Powhatan pit, is to tell you <br />What you know: <br /> <br />You come up after dark, you poise alone <br />With me on the shore. <br />I lead you back to this world. <br /> <br />Three lady doctors in Wheeling open <br />Their offices at night. <br />I don't have to call them, they are always there. <br />But they only have to put the knife once <br />Under your breast. <br />Then they hang their contraption. <br />And you bear it. <br /> <br />It's awkward a while. Still it lets you <br />Walk about on tiptoe if you don't <br />Jiggle the needle. <br />It might stab your heart, you see. <br />The blade hangs in your lung and the tube <br />Keeps it draining. <br />That way they only have to stab you <br />Once. Oh Jenny. <br /> <br />I wish to God I had made this world, this scurvy <br />And disastrous place. I <br />Didn't, I can't bear it <br />Either, I don't blame you, sleeping down there <br />Face down in the unbelievable silk of spring, <br />Muse of the black sand, <br />Alone. <br /> <br />I don't blame you, I know <br />The place where you lie. <br />I admit everything. But look at me. <br />How can I live without you? <br />Come up to me, love, <br />Out of the river, or I will <br />Come down to you.<br /><br />James Arlington Wright<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-muse/
