TEMPLATES

Extracts from: TEMPLATES: a Draft of Poems DIVORCE THEY were man and wife, Their sailboat moved them onwards. And then the wind died. DARK AS A RAVEN WITH that hair as dark as a raven, And that look of wisdom about her That stretched farther than a raven’s flight; She graced the dreams of so many young men Of whom I was but one. But one that would have flown as far as she flew, And hovered near her for as long as I could; As indeed I did. And wearing that white dress That made her mouth as full and red, And as intoxicating, As that youthful wine we drank That solitary day we walked the fields And whispered under forested trees, Our forested hopes; She caused me to rejoice in the fresh air That rushed right through us And lifted us upwards. But now… The day gone, The bird flown, The wine drunk, The fields bare, The trees shorn, The darkness of her hair Faded by time, The giddiness of that flight is elusive. AFTER HESPER AND LUCIFER I CUT a piece of mistletoe And gave it to a lady fair; Who placed it in her golden hair Then whispered she would have to go. A sickle gold gleams in my hand, As I, beside an empty throne, Revere her ancient fields of corn And seek a vernal hazel wand. I'll see no shadow on the sun, Nor hear nocturnal fishes sing, Until a single crow does bring The news that she’s forever gone. But if I hear a sound as silk White berries brushing golden hair, And know that it is she who's there, A kid I'll be who's seethed in milk.