Ritual Together (Love Poem) Poem by Doren Robbins

I meant to ask her about a cup
we brought home from Greece.
Harvesters carrying long sheathes of wheat
in the carving that spreads from the handle,
circle the cup. And those harvesters move
with expressions of pleasure, a few
with the dream eyes of being drunk.
They celebrate because their farms are lush.
Wildly the ones in front are singing.
Maybe in that song they are thanking
in a common drunken ritual together
their old goddess and her daughter
who tend the fertile ground.
It's all far off on Crete.

I thought I remembered what I meant
to ask her about it—I thought,
standing there at the sink, I remembered,
staring down into the water
of a mixing bowl where she laid her
underwear to soak out the blood.
I remembered, staring down,
what I meant to ask, but I didn't.