Poem by Priscilla Denise Levertov

The Ache of Marriage

The ache of marriage:

thigh and tongue, beloved,   
are heavy with it,   
it throbs in the teeth

We look for communion
and are turned away, beloved,   
each and each

It is leviathan and we   
in its belly
looking for joy, some joy   
not to be known outside it

two by two in the ark of   
the ache of it.

1. What Were They Like?
2. Pleasures
3. The Great Black Heron
4. Settling
5. At the Justice Department November 15, 1969

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