I know a soft soul, a soul
soft like cashmere and cotton
kitten fur and mulberry silk and puffy clouds
vicuna shawls and rum butter
lullabies and faraway music carried on the wind

soft and warm and perfect like
the hair on a newborn baby’s head,
to hold such a soul in your arms
brings the universe to a halt and
calls out everything delicate and careful in you

we must stand in the doorway quietly
we must speak in whispers
we must carve a path in the rock of the world for this
with dynamite and bulldozers
with us in hardhats yelling at contractors
with canons and cavalries and battleships
mercilessly and
without a hint of softness