“What did my fingers do before they held him?What did my heart do, with its love?From " Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices", 1962”

“I have stitched life into me like a rare organ--from "Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices", written 1962”

“What did my arms do before they held you?”

“O love, how did you get here?--from "Nick and the Candlestick", written 29 October 1962”

“I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root:It is what you fear.I do not fear it: I have been there.--from "Elm", written 19 April 1962”

“Now I am silent, hateUp to my neck,Thick, thick.I do not speak.--from "Lesbos", written 18 October 1962”

“Is it the sea you hear in me,Its dissatisfactions?Or the voice of nothing, that was you madness?--from "Elm", written 19 April 1962”