Margin

There is the place for questioning:
The margin of the sky.
Will you keep me company
Along the road,
Along the track?
Will you come with me and stand
Behind the wind,
Before the sun?
Then let us gather up our skirts
With bells that jingle,
Beads that chime
Let us dress in happy scarves
And say goodnight to the dark.

What Mulan Said To Elaine

Girl at the window, tell me
What is in your heart?
Your shutter has gone quiet,
But your sighs are loud.

You should not be idle, girl, your hands are young and deft.
You should not be heartsore, girl, not for any man.

Girl at the casement, how you
Hold yourself apart!
No homely thing can touch you --
Girl, your wound is proud.

Turn your time to profit, girl, addressing warp and weft.
There's your proper business, girl; attend to what you can.

Or come to France with me and
Study there the art
Of Bonny Jeanne who left us
Billowed on a cloud.

(The House Without the Door)

I'll spatter you with acid.

In my hands
You'll study how to make the death's-head grin.
Your bones will smoke and smolder, peeping steam
Between the patches of your living skin.
I'll hear you scream.

But that won't be sufficient.

I'll get help
Let sister Famine teach you how to groan.
You'll gorge and crave, till, famished, platters bare,
You'll gnaw your hands and feet down to the bone,
No morsel spared.

I've other sisters also.

With their aid
I'll lock you in a nightmare pricked with wrong,
With whirling, windy voices, frozen fells
And black crevasses, and the cold that longs
For cozy hell.

You think I have no power.
But I do.
You think you've stolen all my pith and marrow
And every form of strength and will I had.
But I still have my sisters.
They will catch you.
My sisters, they will catch you, and you'll pay.

(Spring Scene)

See the river, splashed with sun,
Clear on pebbles, clear on sand.
See the pansies prank the slope,
Purple spattering the green.

How could you think it would alter?
How could you think it would stay?
This place is too big to be shattered.
This place is too small to sustain.