It starts like this: the clamps around my wrists.
The little Saturn ring around my head,
the wooden chair, the arms still warm, though dead;
then the electric thrill, the arch, the twist.

The expiation just before the twist,
the quick reform of madam in her bed,
the spasm, the welcome-wagon for something newly-wed;
or the ambulance, the sirens, the sudden lisp.

It makes me so serene.
It ties me to a rock
and sends me swimming.

It causes quite a scene
to feel the wood and stone become a dock;
to hear the pastoral in stillness singing.