1 The lights in the hallway 2 Have been out a long time. 3 I clasp her, 4 Terrified by the roundness of the earth 5 And its apples and the voluptuous rings 6 Of poplar trees, the secret Africas, 7 The children they give us. 8 She is slim enough. 9 Her knee feels like the face 10 Of a surprised lioness 11 Nursing the lost children 12 Of a gazelle by pure accident. 13 In that body I long for, 14 The Gabon poets gaze for hours 15 Between boughs toward heaven, their noble faces 16 Too secret to weep. 17 How do I know what color her hair is? I float among 18 Lonely animals, longing 19 For the red spider who is God.