alone, unfaceted and fine.
[00:30.91]A diver is my love
[00:38.23](and I am his, if I am not deceived)
[00:51.65]who takes one breath above, for every hour below the sea;
[01:02.79]who gave to me a jewel
[01:10.19]worth twice this woman's life (but would cost her less
[01:23.69]than laying at low tide,
[01:27.22]to see her true love phosphoresce).
[01:34.52]And in an infinite regress:
[01:38.28]Tell me, why is the pain of birth
[01:46.25]lighter borne than the pain of death?
[01:59.49]I ain't saying that I loved you first,
[02:01.92]but I loved you best.
[02:08.32]I know we must abide
[02:15.72]each by the rules that bind us here:
[02:29.47]the divers, and the sailors, and the women on the pier.
[02:41.01]But how do you choose your form?
[02:48.77]How do you choose your name?
[02:55.92]How do you choose your life?
[03:02.39]How do you choose the time you must exhale and kick, and rise?
[03:13.96]And in an infinite capsize:
[03:17.10]Like a bull tearing down the coast,
[03:25.35]double hulls bearing double masts–
[03:32.48]I don't know if you loved me most,
[03:40.91]but you loved me last.
[03:47.36]Recall the word you gave:
[03:54.06]to count your way across the depths of this arid world,
[04:07.01]where you would yoke the waves,
[04:10.53]and lay a bed of shining pearls!
[04:17.75]I dream it every night:
[04:24.90]the ringing of the pail,
[04:31.52]the motes of sand dislodged,
[04:34.67]the shucking, quick and bright;
[04:37.83]the twinned and cast-off shell reveal a single heart of white.
[04:48.34]And in an infinite backslide:
[04:52.42]Ancient border, sink past the West,
[04:59.77]like a sword at the bearer's fall.
[05:07.05]I can't claim that I knew you best,
[05:15.38]but did you know me at all?
[05:22.03]A woman is alive!
[05:28.94]A woman is alive;
[05:35.32]you do not take her for a sign
[05:41.21]in nacre on a stone,
[05:52.62]And never will I wed.
[06:00.13]I'll hunt the pearl of death to the bottom of my life,
[06:13.37]and ever hold my breath,
[06:16.88]till I may be the diver's wife.
[06:24.25]See how the infinite divides
[06:28.42]and the divers are not to blame
[06:36.20]for the rift, spanning distant shores.
[06:43.22]You don't know my name,
[06:51.75]But I know yours.