The blanched stars are withered with light. The moon is pale with trying to remember something. Light, straining for a stale birth, Distends the darkness. I, in the midst of this travail, Bring forth-- The solitude is so vast I am glad to be freed of it. Is it the moon I see there, Or does my own white face Hang in blank agony against the sky As if blinded with giving? V Little inexorable lips at my breast Drink me out of me In a fine sharp stream. Little hands tear me apart To find what they need. I am weak with love of you, Little body of hate! BRUISED SUNLIGHT WATER MOODS RAIN ON THE SEASHORE Curling petals of rain lick silver tongues. Fluffy spray is blown loosely up between thin silver lips And slithers, tinkling in hard green ice, down the gray rocks. White darkness-- An expressionless horizon stares with stone eyes. The sea lifts its immense self heavily And falls down in sickly might. The emptiness is like a death of which no one shall ever know. SHIP MASTS They stand Stark as church spires; Bare stalks That will blossom (Tomorrow perhaps) Into flowers of the wind. MONOCHROME Gray water, Gray sky drifting down to the sea. The night, Old, ugly, and stern, Lies upon the water, Quivering in the twilight Like a tortured belly. ANTIQUE Clouds flung back Make fan-shaped rays of faded crimson Brocaded on dim blue satin; Through the wrinkled dust-blue water The little boat Glides above its sunken shadow. ECHO LOOKS AT HERSELF The ship passes in the night And drags jagged reflections Like gilded combs Through the obscure water. Spun glass daisies float on a gold-washed mirror. SPELL In the dark I can hear the patter. Bare white feet are running across the water. White feet as bright as silver Are flashing under dull blue dresses. Wet palms beat, Impatiently, Petulantly, Slapping the wet rocks. HUNGRY SHADOWS RAINY TWILIGHT Dim gold faces float in the windows. Dim gold faces and gilded arms... They are clinging along the silver ladders of rain; They are climbing with ivory lamps held high, Starry lamps Over which the silver ladders Thicken into nets of twilight. THE STORM Herds of black elephants, Rushing over the plains, Trample the stars. The ivory tusk of the leader (Or is it the moon?) Flashes, and is gone. Tree tops bend; Crash; Fire from hoofs; And still they rush on, Trampling the stars, Bellowing, Roaring. NYMPHS The drift of shadows on the mountainside, Blue and purple gold! Purple dust sifting through fingers of ivory: Cool purple on ivory breasts. I see arms and breasts, Upturned chins, Slanting through the dust of purple leaves: Ivory and gold, Bare breasts and laughing eyes, That drift on the shadowy surf And surge against the side of the mountain. WINTER DAWN