The speaker talks to a lover who only seems to find her beautiful when she is hurting. She compares herself to phosphophyllite, a rare and fragile crystal, and to a geode, a plain rock that hides sparkle inside. The lover is the hammer, and the poem suggests he cracks her open, then admires his own strength instead of caring about the damage. Even her tears become something he enjoys, a kind of nectar.
What makes the poem unsettling is her response. She doesn't leave or fight back. She offers to take the cruelty herself and says she can "cleave" herself back together each time. The word works two ways, meaning both to split apart and to cling together, and the poem plays on that double sense. The mood is bitter and tender at once. Her resilience sounds like pride, but the repeated breaking "for you" hints at how much it costs her.