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Moment in Paradise

Now that we are in heaven

Will the scars of hell ever heal?

Let’s take a midnight swim

Don’t be afraid, my beloved

The tide will return soon

Let us talk until then

We have not talked in so long

We have not been our true selves

In so long

I don’t even know who you are

Isn’t that strange

To be with a person

To love a person

Yet you do not know their worth

That is why we came to this land

We left the wilderness

To see who we really are

My beloved, look, the tide is in

Come, let’s take that midnight swim.

II

When the sun comes up, we are up

She is making mind tea with lemon and honey

Raul’s yellow boat still parked in the water

Maybe his nets have caught another shark

If so he will ask me to drive him to town

So he can sell it for 50 pesos

My beloved washing dishes on the shore

A gayle on her head

Just think, I have never told her how beautiful she is to me

Hell put chains on our hearts

Nothing is more painful

Than loving someone

Yet ignorance separates you

My beloved

One day I shall know who you are

And love you a thousand times more

For now, let us enjoy this moment in paradise

Come, massage me

Here in the shade

Rub around my neck and shoulders

Around my waist

Then I’ll massage you.

--Marvin X

from Mythology of Love, a womanhood/manhood poetic rites of passage