I Am the American Negro (collection)/Awakening
AWAKENING
Born in the pages of lettersNursed by strong sweet wordsReared in the vast expanse of two wild mindsIs Our Love . . .
Vigorous—Big MuscledTender as a mother caring for her first bornSoft as the fall of nightMassive as the universeEternal as life and deathBlinding as the midday sunis Our LoveNowIn his steel arms he has taken usWelding two souls, two bodiesInto a boundless oneInhabiting a sky world built for usBy usVigorous, big muscled Love wraps our world in a blanketOnly if vigorous, big muscled Love goes shall we leave . . .
Yet flesh has not touched fleshOur words . . . our only caressesJust our minds have kissedFor Love has saved hot blood for the lastFor another beginning . . .
I know your lips have the honey from dreamed-of wild flowers I know your fragrance surpasses Purple HyacinthsI know your eyes have the deep beauty of clear dark pools on mountain topsI know your hair is more radiant than a rainbowI know your body is more beautiful than an alabaster vase . . .Why wonder then,that my heart falters, breath leaves mewhen I think of you?
When we meetHow shall we ever part?Can lip leave lip, breast quit breast, or thigh be torn from thigh?How can I take away the Me you own . . . which is a part of you?
I want the warm loveliness of you branded into my flesh . . . your kisses a song in my soul . . . hands-full of soft words . . . your breath on me like a spring zephyr . . . your hair a fountain bathing my face . . . let me lose myself in the ageless beauty of you . . . let our passion be incense burning on the altar to Very-Love . . .
We shall never quite part . . . the scars left by hot flesh on hot flesh will hurl us together at night with their throbbing even though we are separated by a million miles . . . our world will always be . . . for Our Love belongs to the Infinite . . .