Her Heaving Line

Don’t tie me a tight
heaving line knot
like those used
to gird monks
to Mister Christ
or to add weight
to throws and casts
of messenger lines

Three loose ships –
Poverty – Chastity
and Obedience
pull at five rope coils
to match five wounds
in a fisherman’s side
They are out of reach –
no looped hawser pulls

Make me a postulant
for nine months
Make me a novitate
for twelve months
Make me take a vow
not yet launched
or knotted by love
Not bound by any God