Samson in Love

“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” Judges 14:14 This is the first time he has killed a lion. Inside the ribs a swarm of bees lies nested there, and honey comes. He reaches down inside the ribs to where a sweetness runs, and he thinks of the woman he has seen today.

The bare form of her face today came in stronger than this lion. Now he takes one rib, and a foam of bees runs around his wrist—a smell so strong he lies down. Still in his mind her eyes black open, small ribs rounding her heart. She comes and comes. When he tears back the head, what comes brings him toward prayer today, and every day, remembering the ribs licked clean. The flower of flesh from lion, and woman, too—what love lies near the place where one stream runs? ...