Confused bear cocked back on a haunch,
artist’s blundering arms frozen toward embrace 

Kicking through woods and fields, I’d spooked several
and once stepped on a coachwhip among gravestones,
at least one garter curled like a bow

As a barrier against mosquitoes,
I pull an old sheet from the closet
and cross the yard,

I am in a temple or maybe it’s a sweltering 
summer camp lodge type, of a room.

        Have too many cats...

steam rises under my hand
from a lovely coffee cup
cracked like the wall of an orphanage

The night has made the apple tree a scent,
A motion in my ear, as if delight
Ever so softly trembled in decline.

   O depth sufficient to desire, 
Ghostly abyss wherein perfection hides, 
   Purest effect and cause, you are 

She never knew the brittle rose would wake
    The far-off dormant egypt of its day
That she entombed; spring gave, autumn would take

    Then make a Dragon of the Time and check
Saint George the Heart, and look you ride to ruin
By the ruffled Mere before the Beast can wreck

He came thus to Europe, caught
in the legacy of his grandfathers
the looks of his bony aristocratic woman