grapevines and honey?
O, spinster!
I will endure the sea!
war? let this come too
we feared the news from abroad
fates upon the shore
so rare a breast, mine
the vistas bellow
I wove a tapestry of chance
and we could have enjoyed the mad labyrinth,
but instead we are lost

the first swan shall answer my questions
(living within the flames)
with a budding springtime hypothesis
it will warn that you shall win me in two days
and marry me in six
small hands will appear
waving on these hills
those little men
dulled by their own brightness
having stirred behind the curtains

the sun sets in one direction only
and if the seed is lost
it is too late
the sky, now empty
looked weary
and faint with fear
I spoke to you of
Love’s Sincerity
but it was worse than before

I said that I felt formless, but
my heart went along
shaping itself instead
while under the sky I talked to you
but I have not even the vaguest
little smile to share

your attempts deserve far more
but your beauty made it impossible
the field mouse heard the thunder clap
and was sadly
in the end
betrayed by a water sprite
my nation’s flags are all in tatters
come along, we’ll go together

The officer rode off,
following instead the other one
and I was sure that he’d never cry out
in a cold fury,
I, myself was full of peace and joy
as I didn’t know then
that horrors
have a half-life
but there it is

instead come and sing!
make me merry!
***** was his nature
with a mouth full of a *******’s teeth
I beheld this vision of chewed brambles
and him
with too many feathers and fearfully soft,
a wasted sweetness
gutted, extinct

I smashed the glass and heard
an owl’s muffled cry
from very far away
‘eureka!’
the night’s thunder dances
kissing many a god’s
honey drops of warning:
Don’t give a thing to that puzzler there

loving a thousand times
in the strangest fashion
any gentlewoman would be ill-equipped
feeling very small and broken

an enchanted world went round and round
the green wanders
follows midnight
the first thing i did was to look
quite pleased finding
a shining fire and haze
calling out to sailors

I could not persuade a gorgon’s heart
unshaven hungry wild
I caught the last glimpse of an underworld
but burned my fingers
feeling my way
Indeed I have lost him
beyond the edges of my own light

giddy with indifference
each moment before dawn
I had alone
tonight, heaven is wordless
everything, waiting
as I struck a match
with an intricate face
the experimental gentleman
licks the page, in love

this is the house that held my love
growing in the middle
adapting to our needs
it sits in a whisper
and tries as it might
not to get in the way of us

my hands were full of berries
scorched by the newborn air
and for a brief moment I hung by
indeterminate
waving about, however gracefully
while you spoke again
to a lovely rabbit
who may be wild
did you see how I smiled to reassure you?

no more a dense tangle
out of the sight of stars, twinkling
unafraid of the sacrifice
it was enough to scatter grace upon
a monster with rusting teeth who asked
why name it at all?
no more honeyed kisses nor
comforts found upon the altar
but a certain sense of folly
governs the public
it is enough that I call her mine
and above the night shone

My mirror is full of soft clouds
that may surprise you
their subtle qualities cast shadows
around my heavy head and ask
what might the darkened night intend
it is surely sacred to ironic nymphs
and the moon
whose night ambassadors
glow across the winds

a tender cheek
being ill-qualified and virginal
can admit sadly that
nothing much happened
but the pale beats of a jumprope
counted out the letters so
now I know your name
and that is some comfort
at a glance the horses offer
a wilderness
my aristocracy is hardening
landed within the seasons, intermittent
the sky secured a safe space grimly
the world rose and fell
and wore the hue of heaven