Tuesday, July 1, 2008

She Came, She Bathed, I Asked


Painting by Rick Mobbs
***First version of "Stupid War"

She came, she bathed, I asked


She came, she bathed, I asked,

“Are you an augury of love?
Or love itself?”

At that she laughed, she made a splash.
Downstairs a door was opened
and in the sudden draft
I saw the legions tramp across her back,

and under glint-eyed standards,
each man drew and poised to hack
with brittle weapons or with axes
flesh made for kisses, not excesses.

Again she laughed as with my hand
I washed the scene away.

She said,

“I cannot tell the future dear,
nor predict it from your fits.
Am I an augury of love?
Or love itself?

Who knows?
Accept the present, dear,
And dear, accept the gift.”

Rick Mobbs 2008

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

O, o, o, o! This is great, Glenn, and o so very clever in layers of meaning! Kudos, and a cartwheel!