TO MY HUSBAND
Reading edition
“His smile, it listens well and long, His sadness, charitable to mirth, His silence, hospitable to song.”
No words to cover: Soft linen, trailing silk of phrase To deck the pampered song; Fine feathers to the wing For deft adventuring Ecstatic ways Along. No many-colored coat of precious words! Rather to dare A stark undress, Wear but a crying nakedness, Venture the bright discomfort Of a word that strips— The startled candor of the heart Bare on the vehement lips.