The violence of beast on beast is read As natural law, but upright man Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain. - Derek Walcott

I do not live in you, I bear
my house inside me, everywhere

until your winters grow more kind
by the dancing firelight of mind

where knobs of brass do not exist
whose doors dissolve in tenderness

House that lets in, at last, those fears
that are its guests, to sit on chairs

feasts on their human faces, and
takes pity simply by the hand

shows her her room, and feels the hum
of wood and brick becoming home.

She's a rare vase, out of a cat's reach, on its shelf.

You want to hear my history? Ask the sea.