Anne Sexton

Rapunzel

A woman

who loves a woman

is forever young.

The mentor

and the student

feed off each other.

Many a girl

had an old aunt

who locked her in the study

to keep the boys away.

They would play rummy

or lie on the couch

and touch and touch.

Old breast against young breast...

Let your dress fall down your shoulder,

come touch a copy of you

for I am at the mercy of rain,

for I have left the three Christs of Ypsilanti

for I have left the long naps of Ann Arbor

and the church spires have turned to stumps.

The sea bangs into my cloister

for the politicians are dying,

and dying so hold me, my young dear,

hold me...

The yellow rose will turn to cinder

and New York City will fall in

before we are done so hold me,

my young dear, hold me.

Put your pale arms around my neck.

Let me hold your heart like a flower

lest it bloom and collapse.

Give me your skin

as sheer as a cobweb,

let me open it up

and listen in and scoop out the dark.

Give me your nether lips

all puffy with their art

and I will give you angel fire in return.

We are two clouds

glistening in the bottle glass.

We are two birds

washing in the same mirror.

We were fair game

but we have kept out of the cesspool.

We are strong.

We are the good ones.

Do not discover us

for we lie together all in green

like pond weeds.

Hold me, my young dear, hold me.

They touch their delicate watches

one at a time.

They dance to the lute

two at a time.

They are as tender as bog moss.

They play mother-me-do

all day.

A woman

who loves a woman