Almost a dance whose step reconfigure,
learning hand to hand, the bodies entwine.
Even if unequally matched — different weight,
different height — there is always something
in the other, so that the weaker can gain
advantage, not unlike David of the slingshot
and the giant taking it in the head.
And when one man takes another down,
how it feels holding him almost tenderly
but firmly in practice, so no further harm
can come, a test of whether one has
what it takes to wrestle an enemy
for real, till he is still as water.