Most familiar face, cushioned in folds, blinking
enough to carry upon my breast, gold
clothed, into the dark
regions (she breathes; I imagine that breath
in my mouth), ankle patterned
with fleurs-de-lis, bent as a neck of a swan, one
green leather shoe dangling
The white of her
throat alarmed me: Daphne
slight.
Globes of fruit, too round
to touch, more perfect
than sweet (impeding
our first
footsteps);
barefoot pressed
violets, narcissus and frockenberries
to feed us--lantern-long
lips, all in
a honeycomb of dense shadow and intense
sunlight.
Horses hailed us, May-browned
guardians of the green
fallow drawing rings
of fecund
light. We called
to them,
neighing, feigning
Minoan indolence.
She offered a pink
palm
and pearl-contoured
teeth.
Now, I began to examine
the irregularities
of her face, alarmed
with any
imperfection--
for example:
creases of her forehead
(deeply incised); a venule at the tip
of the nose; a
discoloration.
All my disappointments
settled there--upon her face. As her left
elbow
fell, abandoned
to the hollow of a wall, as her
hair flushed my face, I
retreated further, wrapped
twice in the tunic of all my
scars.
She proffered sorrel
to my lips until her hand was
empty and pink again, pink again.
Sorrel, help me
to forget. I knelt
to our fingertips.
Lips bled milk at the slightest
movement.
Breathless and blouseless, the barque
of her
carried us.
Familial faces converged,
forming the suggestion
of features,
a green name, a wing, an open
hand.
Breast to breast we wed with no other witness
than the story written
forever upon us.
This faint stain is blood from her
lip. I wear it when I walk before
the sky.
I have seen her since--crowned in a pink
and burnished tempera; turn
distractedly, smooth
the paper of a package upon her
lap; sleep,
one hand abandoned, one white hand
touching hair from her cheek
Imago Undisturbed [#24]
© 2009 Fammerée
* * * * *
Richard Fammerée
fammeree@att.net
director@universeofpoetry.org
* * * * *
Photograph by Susan Aurinko
* * * * *
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