Confinement

we are confined by our bodies and if

the mystics are correct

                        that the body is in

                                    the soul

            then what

when I say I want to touch you I mean

I want to reach inside you to where you are

what you are                            I mean

I want to escape myself

                        to shudder and scream

the agony of the earth that we call gravity

shudder and scream like mothers

who have lost sons to war        to oceans

                                    to the mystery

                        to love even

I want to touch you     to reach inside myself

to touch that quivering human confined

            in this sorrowful animal body.