In Pity as We Kiss and Lie

Softly wrong, we lie and kiss,
heart to heart and thigh to thigh.
Like man and woman. As if this
were how and who and when and why.

Some two in the time of man
and woman found it sweet
to trade what such half-bodies can
that both be made complete.

Some two in a place that was
hardly right but softly true
found themselves and founded us—
he to her and I to you.

Softly wrong and hardly right,
heart to heart and thigh to thigh,
in each others arms tonight
we lie and kiss and kiss and lie.

If he by her and I by you,
like man and woman, now and then
find each other softly true—
what of how, who, why, and when?

Till hardly wrong, as mercy is—
when and how and who and why—
softly right we lie and kiss
in pity as we kiss and lie.