The world's as thin as tracing paper,
If I speak too loudly I'll fall through.
The freezing sun distills the silence:
Now I'm just a shape
On this abstract winter afternoon.
Sprinkle me with hyssop
And I shall be clean.
Turn your liquid eyes upon me
And I shall be pure.
I've seen your words falling from
The women I've adored:
Fire and fleet, souls gathered home,
You've sung this song before.
So I build fires, I send up rockets,
Sing quiet songs to the absent dead
And those I miss in distant places:
There's not much difference
For those who can't or won't come home again.
I've seen your soul watching from
The women I've adored:
Your will compels their movements,
Did I love them themselves at all?
Sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean.
Pour your liquid sight upon me,
And I shall be pure,
Pure as the snow.
GLORIA.