Pale beauty. Noblest apparition!
Venus of faint disposition,
Hear, thy heart would I petition,
From the humblest bent position,
Heedless of the erudition
Won by past love's futile mission,
Damning love to chill perdition,
Beckoning for a new edition,
To a life's exiled condition.
At thy throne I'd seek remission
Of the faded, cherished vision
Too oft' stained with Fate's derision.
Pray, forgive the imposition,
And attend my proposition:
Come alive in flesh and spirit!
That eloquence! Oh let me hear it!
Though many man would scorn and fear it,
I'd never cease to make my presence near it.
It's flames I speak of! Wildest conjurations!
The doubled liquor of desire's libations
In every woman whose passions and whose mind
In synergistic concord are alligned.
Yes, come alive like Caesar to devour
My mind, my body with thy pent-up power!
Unblossomed rose, now make thy fragrance known.
Let it's perfume subdue me for thine own!
Thy wit, thy artful musings from their cask
Unstopped now draw into the waiting flask
Of all thy earthly motions, vast and subtle:
Each word, each tear, each heartbeat in thy breast;
Now share with me this ardent spirit blessed.
Then as its fire our joy incenses
Summoning forgotten senses,
Desires entombed by shame so long,
Now proud, ecstatic, 'round us throng,
A mighty mass of gathering strings,
From which a brazen harmony takes wings.
This, our song! O valiant song!
Resounding in its fervent cries
"Away! Ascend into uncharted skies!"
It's this I hear when meditating
On thy meek and thoughful eyes.
George Chadderdon © 1994