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# Desire in Ten Parts
- URL: https://www.merionwest.com/the-forty-ninth-year-2/
- Published: 2026-03-14T16:39:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T17:03:52.000Z
- Description: Colleen S. Harris
- Author: Colleen S. Harris
- Tags: Poetry, Arts

*“Almighty God created sexual desire in ten parts; then gave nine parts to*

 *women and one to men.” \~Ali ibn Abu Taleb*

> *1*

> 

> I taste the syllables of your name on my tongue

> like a fine dessert I would not rush to finish

> I hold them for safekeep in the dark

> *2*

> 

> How long does it take

> the sea to digest an island?

> I would need such time

> to scour you from memory

> to brand myself free of your touch

> *3*

> 

> I lock my fierce want

> in the golden plain of my belly

> keyed to your touch

> hidden from my jealous father

> fed by my steady heartbeat

> *4*

> 

> In my hand the world as I draw your cheek to mine

> my fingers trace truths across your cheekbone and chest

> I mark you as mine to hold

> *5*

> 

> I would trap your scent

> in the dark waves of my hair

> and train it to come when I called

> *6*

> 

> My eyes love the dark

> where I see you edged in velvet

> only shadows challenge me for your embrace

> and we hold you together

> *7*

> 

> My bones are heavy with lust and earthy craving

> for your weight crushing the air from my thirsty lungs

> like a last reckoning come home

> *8*

> 

> It is easier for my knees to pray

> against hard-packed dirt

> I ground myself to see

> that from here you look like a god

> *9*

> 

> When my body is sore

> and my burdens are many

> my small steady feet

> carry me forth in love

> carry me home to you

> *10*

> 

> You never say *love* but you have given me all

> a warm home strong sons

> the strength to face new mornings

> Love is the shape of your life

### Colleen S. Harris is the author of [*God in My Throat: The Lilith Poems*](https://archives.calstate.edu/concern/archives/fn106z78k?ref=merionwest.com), which was released with Bellowing Ark in 2009; [*These Terrible Sacraments*](https://doublebackbooks.wordpress.com/poetry-books/these-terrible-sacraments-by-colleen-s-harris/?ref=merionwest.com)*,* also released with Bellowing Ark in 2010; and [*The Kentucky Vein*](https://www.amazon.com/Kentucky-Vein-Colleen-S-Harris/dp/098323907X?ref=merionwest.com), which was released with Punkin House in 2011\. She co-edited [*Women Versed in Myth: Essays on Modern Women Poets*](https://www.amazon.com/Women-Versed-Myth-Essays-Modern/dp/0786471921?ref=merionwest.com), which was released with McFarland in 2016.