Muriel Rukeyser




Drunken Girl

Do you know the name of the average animal?
Not the dog,
       Nor the green-beaded frog,
Nor the white ocean monster lying flat—
        Lower than that.
The curling one who comes out in a storm—
The middle one’s the worm.

Lift up your face, my love, lift up your mouth,
Kiss me and come to bed
       And do not bow your head
Longer on what is bad or what is good—
       The dead are terribly misunderstood,
And sin and godhead are in the worm’s blind eye,
We’ll come to averages by and by.