A Dry Hot Night

Tonight heat moves like an animal near the bed,

Shaken leaves sound bloated in dry air;

The root-smell of the earth is suddenly everywhere

And stirs a violence in the tossing head.

With a jagged thrust I press your hand

As though for proof of anger or of love

When, in the lull of the wind, the shove

Of the tide boils up and pours across the land.