Lines

When the world comes down to this one dark wood
Before our four astonished eyes
To a beach for two faithful children
To a house of music, for our clear accord
I will find you

When we are very strong - who can hold us back?
And very gay - how can ridicule harm us?
When we are very bad - what can they do to us?
Dress yourself up
And dance
And laugh
I could never throw love out the window

A louring morning in July
A taste of ashes fills the air
A smell of sweating wood stains the hearth
Drowned flowers

The spoils of long walks
A misty rain from canals beyond the fields
Why not even trinkets and incense?

Smoke always rises from the distant pound
What witch will ascend against the white sunset?
What violet streamers will come dropping down?
A bell of rosy fire rings in the clouds

Breathing a sweet smell of India ink
Powdery blackness drifts over my letters
I lower the lights, lie down on my bed
And rolled into the shadows, I see you
My darlings, my queens