Postlude

Now that I have cooled to you  

Let there be gold of tarnished masonry,  

Temples soothed by the sun to ruin  

That sleep utterly.  

Give me hand for the dances,          

Ripples at Philae, in and out,  

And lips, my Lesbian,  

Wall flowers that once were flame.  

Your hair is my Carthage  

And my arms the bow,          

And our words arrows  

To shoot the stars  

Who from that misty sea  

Swarm to destroy us.  

But you there beside me—        

Oh, how shall I defy you,  

Who wound me in the night  

With breasts shining  

Like Venus and like Mars?  

The night that is shouting Jason        

When the loud eaves rattle  

As with waves above me  

Blue at the prow of my desire.