“That liquefaction of her clothes” –
They must have seen her eyes,
Wide plains and oxbows,
Silver dawnlight glow
As the heart of a continent pours towards salt.
Mineral mine, jewels that adorn
The calcification of shells –
Did they see her in the deep river cliffs,
The soundings off a shoreline ever-changing?
They saw her when she rose –
“Then, then (methinks) how sweetly flows- ”
Heart given forth its life to salt.
Quotes drawn from Robert Herrick’s poem “Upon Julia’s Clothes.”