They call me and I go
It is a frozen road
Past midnight, a dust
Of snow caught
In the rigid wheeltracks
The door opens
I smile, enter and
Shake off the cold
Here is a great woman
On her side in the bed
She is sick
Perhaps vomiting
Perhaps laboring
To give birth to
A tenth child. Joy! Joy!
Night is a room
Darkened for lovers
Through the jalousies the sun
Has sent one golden needle!
I pick the hair from her eyes
And watch her misery
With compassion