Squash (Cucurbite)

Curb your excesses, for I change
and get absorbed too quickly.
See? Already I’m taken in.
Be like water, I told myself, strange
aspiration for a vegetable, but by nature
I was cold and humid. Now
I quench thirst. This makes me
useful, though primarily for the young
in southern regions. Here
in the north, I descend in torrents.
Please, as long as I’m pouring
my heart out, withhold your good opinions.
Your stooped, lanky form is beautiful
to me, but we’ve agreed to nothing
yet. Consider that I stem—
and stem from—longing. Your neutrality
can be preserved with salt water
which frees the body if you add good clay
and bathe in it. Or if you sail.