The commitment is not to this or that

my red dress

your top hat

 

It is the process we can settle on

hearts speaking openly

life going on

 

My commitment is not to you or me

but to follow the universe down to the sea

 

to make my part in the symphony song

wrest it out

know right from wrong

 

pour in richly

through the door of my life

the spirit i can be

if not a wife

 

And if I can give

to one or two

(and whoever knows

it might be you)

 

a bright sailing boat

with a wild blue sail

a green giraffe

with a three foot tail

 

a mountain of love

so deep and so strong

(a cave of regret

that the world carries on)

 

But if I can give

till the end of my life

 

I'll have done it, and lived

not the extricate bore

not the terminant rune

not the spokeable lung

but the way that I saw

 

Bridget Belgrave
1988 

Note: Written 7 years before I encountered the giraffes of NVC