Of Two Minds Left Undone

CK Tower

Maybe there's a secret to untangling
misplaced endearments: consider rose hips
from The Grasse, and Roman chamomile; the latter
carried a hundred miles by a Saxon priest, chanting
maythen. Perhaps it's some arcane ingredient:
five grains of sand from Cronos' hourglass or an inch of thread
from Lachesis. Possibly the enunciation
of a Siren's midnight confession: a translation from papyrus leaf,
scrawled down while she dreamt of a forbidden lover.

If I knew the secret, every obscure ingredient,
each word patterned in gossamer trope, both
or anything, I could diminish the remembrance:
your presence lingering inside each veiled chamber,
leading toward my center. But if I indulged
in our undoing, I'd be left with yet another space
to fill, with rose hips, chamomile and siren song.

The 2River View, 2_1 (Fall 1997)