Poems

THE BLADE

Once, there were kisses everywhere
Soft kisses, like a shaft of sun
Across the daffodils.
Others there were, more downward into me
The blade of passion feeling for its mark
Before the plunge.
Kisses resting like dew were mine
Dew in the moment of its vanishing
Which in a breath
Conceals the dancing footprint in the grass.
Under those lips, the eagerness
Of thrusting hopes
I yielded smilingly, a fool
Until your glances entered me
Like golden anger.
The blade of passion held between your teeth
Cut ruthless path, now would be stayed
Within a kiss.

I liked what I saw in your eyes
It had nothing to do
Nothing whatever
With what was going on at the time
Your lips smiled a little
Your voice was silent
Your hands moved restlessly
And your eyes looked at me
With a look I liked.
It had to do with me
With you and me only
There was plenty going on at the time
But our charming mood
Met and matched
As though we had kissed warmly
Alone and happy in an empty room.

APATHY (1936)

Into cold storage with love
For the winter, and wait, let us wait,
Let us wait, let us droop, let us never
Lift finger to pick up the pieces
And put them together. To gape at the fissure
Is all that we do, but to mend it
Or stop it from draining completely
Was never our business.
Come, substitute folly and mechanized pleasure
Let us dance, let us drink, let us spend
Of our vital, impassioned,
Our never-returning and exquisite loving
On shadows. On brilliant, on treacherous
Gaudy-hued travesties.
Into cold storage with love
For the winter, and wait, let us wait,
Let us wait for the Spring, let us never
Remember that Spring is behind us