Fons

Reanimated, spirit restored, 
reincorporated, body restored, 
I contemplate between dreams 
the scene I've stolen 
like the one who took fire, 
like the one who opened the devil box 
out of curiosity, 
like the one who saw her equal 
and her life's love 
were the same and so effortlessly 
brought them together. 
I took exactly
what was not mine, 
with my eyes. 
I saw the sea inside you:
on your surface, mud. 
I kissed you like a shipwreck, 
like one who insufflates the word. 
With my lips I traveled 
that entire continent, 
Adam, from dirt, Nothing. 
I knew myself in your substance, 
grounded there, 
emitting aromatic fumes, 
an amatory banquet of ashes.

Copyright © 2002 by Pura López-Colomé. Reprinted from No Shelter, with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. All rights reserved.