To Be Had (draft)

It was a child's summer
the first time he asked
to "have" me... an ice bucket
in his hands, as if he

were prepared
to douse the fire...

every nerve
of fifteen years

resisted-

secretly adoring.

"Ten Hail Mary's,
five Our Father's

and all will be forgiven"
(the priest said )

who never knew
the pink hills,
the rising forest,

or how desperately easy
to become lost in them.

Quietly, (I asked him)
kneeling down...

"what is to be had
and when it is taken-

are we finished?"