The Archaic Torso of Apollo
        freely after Rilke

This guy's lost his head but, Jesus,
what radiance gleams beneath the pectorals,
and, as the eye follows the contours
south toward genesis, well,
one could go blind smiling.

Sure, the surface is stone, chipped
here and there, but who wouldn't be taken
by those shoulders, and underneath,
can't you see the blaze? A star
goes nova inside you. You can't hide
anymore. You must get a life.

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Copyright © 2014 Carol Light All rights reserved
from Heaven from Steam
Able Muse Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission