by Zora Bernice May Cross
I'd have you love my body as my soul,
Praise it and magnify it night and day,
Knowing its sweetness blossoms out of clay
With tremulous movement to its spirit goal.
These arms perchance have clambered branch and bole,
These feet have run from many beasts of prey;
But Love has led them to a clearer way.
Moulding white rapture from apparent dole.
O, let my body be your soul's delight,
Your mirror true of Beauty most-esteemed,
That looking on its form your lips breathe low:
"This is herself, her soul within my sight."
So read it over as a book you dreamed
In boyhood's fancy many a year ago.
Last updated March 26, 2023