Adrienne Rich - On Edges lyrics

When the ice starts to shiver
All across the reflecting basin
Or water-lily leaves
Dissect a simple surface
The word drowning flows through me
You built a glassy floor that held me
As I leaned to fish for old
Hooks and toothed tin cans
Stems lashing out like ties of
Silk dressing-gowns archangels of lake-light
Gripped in mud

Now you hand me a torn letter
On my knees, in the ashes, I could never
Fit these ripped-up flakes together
In the taxi I am still piecing
What syllables I can
Translating at top speed like
A thinking machine
That types out useless as monster
And history as lampshade

Crossing the bridge I need all my nerve
To trust to the man made cables

The blades on that machine
Could cut you to ribbons
But it's function is humane
Is this all I can say of these
Delicate hooks, scythe-curved intentions
You and I handle? I'd rather
Taste blood, yours or mine, flowing
From a sudden slash, than cut all day
With blunt scissors on dotted lines
Like the teacher told