BRIDE AND GROOM LIE HIDDEN FOR THREE DAYS

 

She gives him his eyes, she found them

Among some rubble, among some beetles

 

He gives her her skin

He just seemed to pull it down out of the air and lay it over her

She weeps with fearfulness and astonishment

 

She has found his hands for him, and fitted them freshly at the wrists

They are amazed at themselves, they go feeling all over her

 

He has assembled her spine, he cleaned each piece carefully

And sets them in perfect order

A superhuman puzzle but he is inspired

She leans back twisting this way and that, using it and laughing, incredulous

 

Now she has brought his feet, she is connecting them

So that his whole body lights up

 

And he has fashioned her new hips

With all fittings complete and with newly wound coils, all shining oiled

He is polishing every part, he himself can hardly believe it

 

They keep taking each other to the sun, they find they can easily

To test each new thing at each new step

 

And now she smooths over him the plates of his skull

So that the joints are invisible

And now he connects her throat, her breasts and the pit of her stomach

With a single wire

 

She gives him his teeth, tying their roots to the centrepin of his body

 

He sets the little circlets on her fingertips

 

She stitches his body here and there with steely purple silk

 

He oils the delicate cogs of her mouth

 

She inlays with dep-cut scrolls the nape of his neck

 

He sinks into place the inside of her thighs

 

So, gasping with joy, with cries of wonderment

Like two gods of mud

Sprawling in the dirt, but with infinite care

 

They bring each other to perfection.