i knew a woman

i knew a woman, lovely in her bones,

when small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;

ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:

the shapes a bright container can contain!

la moisson charles-françois daubigny

she taught me turn, and counter-turn, and stand;
she taught me touch, that undulant white skin:

boote auf der oise charles-françois daubigny

(she moved in circles, and those circles moved.)

let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:

i'm martyr to a motion not my own;

what's freedom for? to know eternity.

i swear she cast a shadow white as stone.

but who would count eternity in days?

these old bones live to learn her wanton ways:

(i measure time by how a body sways.)

bords de l'oise ou le pêcheur charles-françois daubigny

all text excerpted from theodore rothke's "i knew a woman"