I beat you with a hazel rod
Come to me in madness

I beat you with a bloodied rod
Come like an angel

I beat you with a rod from heaven
Come to me like a wild boar

* * *

Ninety-nine serpents—
ninety-nine flaming beasts—
go to Ion
Slip in by his shirt-collar
squat in his heart
scald him burn him
turn his eyes to my eyes
his face to my face
his path to my house
Make him see me in the distance
a fine-feathered peacock
make him pick me out as basil among weeds
make him tease me among the girls
Like following gold and silver
fall in step with my words
with my walk
with my dance

* * *

Sweet boy
don't send so much longing—
send a little less
and come with it yourself

* * *

Tuesday, basket full of black,
how did you make me fall in love—
did you clip my hair
did you steal my footsteps?
How did you charm me—
with the hair of a mad wolf
with three straws from the bed
with splintered wood
with the fairness of eyebrows
with a chip off the gate
with dark hair from a braid?
How drive every other love away?

* * *

Eagle, eagle, grow into a flying bird
Take yourself to Ion's house
What you find in his head
take in your head
what you find in his ears
take in your ears
what you find in his mouth
take in your mouth
what you find in his hands
take in your wings
Take that great wrong away in your feathers—

and what you find in your head
put it in her head
And what you find in your feathers
put it on the table
in their house