Poem: My 3,000 Loving Arms (+ a typo from the Latin)

St. Ursula was said to have a plus-11,000 virgins martyrdom. Research suggests the number is a misreading of Latin texts mentioning an Ursula who was 11 years old. I guess you had to be there.

In "No End Out of Mind"--posted on this blog previously [click the title]--I wrote "Rose petals loosen from fingers / of the goddess of 30,000 loving arms / and fall into a separation of clouds, / heavens and genitalia." 

My original thought had been 30 loving arms.  Like Godzilla, the phrase was subject to explosions nuclear and grandiose, plus my general numbers confusion. I split the difference in this unpublished poem (late 2008). I like the stand-alone line.

My 3,000 Loving Arms

They asked not to be led into temptation this time,
like they could hoodwink an evil eye by means of
specification [but deliver us from evil].

My 3,000 loving arms are enough
under some circumstances, I hope.

We shed mythology in favor of the largest organ
(anyone, anyone? yes:) flesh, which hides our
skeletal self and is a lot warmer than poor,
dead Dido or the pantheon of Christian martyrs.

(If I were an artist I’d paint them as Hindu gods.)

You love with invention and simple induction.
You are; life is. Could be worse.

____________
Sarah Sarai

Illustraton from http://www.getreligion.org/wp-content/photos/jesuskrishna.jpg.