half the perfect world

every night he'd come to me

i'd cook for him

i'd pour his tea

i was in my thirties then

had made some money

lived with men

we'd lay us down to give and get

beneath the white mosquito net

and since no counting had begun

we lived a thousand years in one

the candles burned

the moon went down

the polished hill

the milky town

transparent

weightless

luminous

uncovering the two of us

on that fundamental ground

where love's unwilled

unleashed

unbound

and half the perfect world is found

the candles burned

the moon went down

the polished hill

the milky town

transparent

weightless

luminous

uncovering the two of us

on that fundamental ground

where love's unwilled

unleashed

unbound

and half the perfect world is found