Transfigured
She, still holds her first fire―
Her voice sizzling liquid—
Youthful power pulsing
Rocking with ebb and flow
He, cool enough to hold her fluid moods―
Her forest of dark sayings, and her spirit
Flung so wide across the valley
No one but he sees it
In bed with him — his books
And fragments of sound
Where rocks open up―
Borne on invisible waves
He swims with her at night
Follows her daydreams where moonbeams
Dwell; he sighs with swelling tenderness, and
Shaking like nests of Indian bees
Draws her near ― her arms fall away,
Spreading her senseless,
A blue streak falling into silence
The language in her heart pouring out
His finger rests on her lip ― slips in,
And Earth trembles a mile away
Torn loose by summer storm
And divides her from this world
With every taut sweep of skin
Stars scatter from their icy heights—
Flames dovetail ― on the verge ―
Transfigured by desire
In the sway and tang of sea
Tender petals curl softly,
Throbbing with his angel’s kiss
Bending, willow-like to his need
She takes him on her tongue
Like a sacrament; from one passion
To the next ― enters his high notes
And frees him from his torment
©Selena Howard 2013
