Room Key
       

I find you here, my lord Ares, god of strife,
in the soiled sheets of temporary lovers
who merged in the dark and blew their covers:
the anonymous husband, the disappointed wife.

Here they lie, their hones exposed—
vanity obeyed, vows unmade—lust opposed
by fear with lust the winner:
the tongue tasting the nectar

melting the will: nostalgia for the mud
in her nostrils flaring, the rush of blood
stiffening his resolve: and look at what
they have to lose and yet they cannot quit,

so strong is Love, the blind almighty hoy,
son of Beauty, who took the war to Troy .

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Copyright © 2015 David Lehman All rights reserved
from Boulevard
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission