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.