If You Love the Body

 

If you love the body you must
know the bone
that ribs and peoples it; deeper
than flesh you feel the beauty.  That will last, simply as stone
upheaves in season where the winter rain
rakes asters and drooping cornstalks from a hill.
If you love the body you must know the bone

of fingers that touch, of the high case where the brain
lurks, of the deep knock and door and sill.
The beauty that will last, simply as stone

remains, is what you love when the blossom is gone - 
petals and sepals and stem, roots and soil - 
if you love the body you must know.  The bone

smiles behind our faces when we frown,
knowing while the sweet flesh will not hold
the beauty, that will.  Last, simply as stone

lasts, my love.  For saying what I can
I ask forgiveness - in time we'll know it well.
If you love the body you must know the bone,
the beauty that will last simply as stone.

- Richard Tillinghast

 
Poetry and MusicDavid LautersteinComment