arrow in the upper right hand of this garish illumination
for to allay its intrusion upon your fine sensibilities! ~>
Whence, love, in me, dost thou infer demand?
Thou offerest little, and stakes thee naught,
Yet sweetest aye to me are gifts unsought,
Borne in the largesse of an empty hand.
See, on me I wear no confining band,
No snare he plac'd whereby thou may'st be caught...
And if thy goads and barbs have shown me aught,
The liberty is mine that thou hast spurn'd.
I own I've prov'd myself at dalliance,
And tasted of frivolity and sport.
So if a sharpen'd conscience pricketh thee
Some tender spot in our brief alliance,
Look how thou prize thyself, pay thyself court:
Thy worth I know is more than sport to me.
Escape
(a response to a poem entitled "Today's Dance," by
W. Killen, which in turn responds to "Partnering" in my
Deferrance sequence)
Whose briars are real, and who hath wildly leapt
Into the thick and thicket of 'em, hey?
And who would flee fescue, the bright hard day...
Who into twilight nebulous hath crept?
Did I plead pity for one tear I've wept?
Or have these taunts been proferred to sway
Me from my own spirited destrier,
Entangl'd in knight's cloak, taken and kept?
My sword I yielded freely, to take up
Truths stripp'd of all contention or vain wit,
No longer being content merely to spar
Or guide these aimless prances by stirrup.
Bareback Godiva, spurning her lord's bit,
Surrender'd to the risk, to seek her star.
Spirited
Once more hast thou bolted, noble steed!
No barding needed I to get thee up,
Nor any blinders, baffles, nor a crop
Thy valiant blood to quicken, did I need.
Why am I not well-mounted then, indeed,
Astride thee and away at full gallop?
Thou fightest free, thou fleest, and I stop;
For though I pant with lust, I shy at greed.
Thou art away. The fingers of my hands
Are empty of thy mane, but idle not,
Employ'd in solace, healing to assay,
I stroke and smooth and soothe the frayed strands
Of thoroughbreds from daunger all distraught.
Betimes so would I tend thee, did thou stay.
Rosamunde del Shore A.S.XXXIII