"Suspension" by Audre Lorde
Suspension
We entered silence
Before the clock struck
Red wine is caught between the crystal
And your fingers
The air solidifys around your mouth.
Once-wind has sucked the curtains in
Like fright, against the evening wall
Prepared for the storm Before the room
Exhales Your lips unfold.
Within their sudden opening
I hear the clock
Begin to speak again.
I remember now, with the filled crystal
Shattered, the wind-whipped curtains
Bound, and the cold storm
Finally broken,
How the room felt
When your word was spoken -
Warm
As the center of your palms
And as unfree.
Audre Lorde
from The First Cities, 1968.
We entered silence
Before the clock struck
Red wine is caught between the crystal
And your fingers
The air solidifys around your mouth.
Once-wind has sucked the curtains in
Like fright, against the evening wall
Prepared for the storm Before the room
Exhales Your lips unfold.
Within their sudden opening
I hear the clock
Begin to speak again.
I remember now, with the filled crystal
Shattered, the wind-whipped curtains
Bound, and the cold storm
Finally broken,
How the room felt
When your word was spoken -
Warm
As the center of your palms
And as unfree.
Audre Lorde
from The First Cities, 1968.