what everyone knows

What everyone knows is

it's hard to love in this body, difficult to cradle another's

in this limited frame. Arms, legs, your fingertips only begin

where the other ends. Say for example,

nights when you feel so cold but

you do not know how to get warmer, you think about that body,

that frame that you'd like to fit in yourself.

You think about how nice it would be to put your hands

all the way in its stomach, feel its squirmy insides. Next

would be your right foot in, then your left.

Then everything, all your body parts

squeezing into another's. People

outside that body would hear you moving around in it,

having a grand time amidst that body's

soft edges. Maybe this will do it -- will help cure the common

cold, will stop wars. Maybe this will define what we need, will make us

stop groping in broad daylight. Maybe this will reveal the

heart of your heart to me, something I borrowed a long time ago.