Olivia Between Acts

Will you hoist sail, sir? Here lies your way.
No . . . I am to hull here a little longer.—Twelfth Night

How is it that some somebody slips in-
side, sidling into your breast without you
knowing it like light through a door? Can it happen
in the second eyes touch? In my first view
of you, so young, trim, so softly bemused,
as you laid hull in my garden, a thief
in my heart, your sweet unveiling words unloosed
to tame and shame me from my haughty griefs,
is that when it occurred, in the purring
of an unpenned word? Was it then I felt
my bridled breath unearthed in earthly stirring?

Your absence has unsensed me. See? I melt
And standing where you stood I feel amiss,
A woman suspended, distilled, all wish.

Copyright © 2004 Stuart Lishan All rights reserved
from Smartish Pace
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission