white days
of almond flower
and flesh sheathed in sunlight

white sea
dissolves laughing on flat rocks

below white chapels
where consecrated bones
crumble into purity of incense

white kisses
beating against the sun with white wings

white boats set sail for white dreams
where the white days have gone


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Copyrigh­t 2025 by Jon Corelis

joncorelis.com

I saw you in a house at sea

you were in every room
and each room had a light of its own

in the living room the protean light of the future
in the kitchen the busy light of childhood
in the bedroom the physical light of remembrance
in the attic the muffled light of crossroads

the sea turned into a desert
the house to a bird the color of the sky
which lifted itself on wings of wind
leaving you among the skulls and cactus

with gold to curse at

love to curse with

Aphrodite, immortal, enthroned in wonder,
Sky-daughter, webstress of love schemes, I entreat you
not to break my spirit with pangs of anguish,
Queen, Lady, Mother,

but now come to me, if in the past you ever
also heeded me when I cried from afar, and,
leaving behind the golden house of your father
Zeus, you descended

borne in a chariot yoked to a flock of lovely
sparrows flying fast over earth’s black richness,
thickly fluttering wings leading you a passage
through bright mid-heaven,

soon arriving, and you, O supreme in blessing,
eternity’s smile gleaming from your expression,
asked me now this time what again I suffered,
what did I pray for,

what beyond all else I would want to happen
with all my love-maddened heart: “Who now needs persuasion
to be led back to your affection? Who is it,
Sappho, who hurts you?

Though she now may run, she will soon pursue you;
now she may spurn gifts, but she soon will give them;
now she feels no love, but she soon will feel it,
even unwilling.”

Come to me this time again: act as my deliveress
from this mastering pain, and, as the fulfiller
of everything that my passion hopes for, take your
stand as my ally.

— translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis