The Sap Begins to Circulate

	One day, I am already old, in the entrance
	of a public place, a man came up to me.

		—Marguerite Duras, The Lover

	Here we are, alone again.

		—Louise-Ferdinand Celine, Death on the Installment Plan


A woman aging ordinarily,
I contemplate your coming
to me, coming
into me like a man might
slip into earth’s warm loam, 
or dive into the recesses of intellect.
Either one, your entry changes
the way I age, now a spectacular
trip over the hill and through your woods.