1. ONE

In the last quarter of the twentieth century
Much of the world sat on the edge
Of an increasingly expensive theater seat
Waiting for something momentous to occur.
Christian aficionados of the Second Coming scenario
Were convinced that,
After two thousand years, the other shoe was about to drop.
And five of the era's best-known psychics predicted
That Atlantis would soon reemerge from the depths.
To this last, Princess Leigh-Cheri responded,
"There are three lost continents: we are one: the lovers."
In whatever esteem on might
Hold Princess Leigh-Cheri's thoughts, one must agree
That the last quarter of the twentieth century
Was a severe period for lovers.
It was a time a time when romantic relationships
Took on the character of ice in spring,
Stranding many little children
On jagged and inhospitable floes.
Nobody quite knew what to make of the moon anymore.
Consider a certain night in August.
The moon was so bloated it was about to tip over.
For more than an hour, Leigh-Cheri stared into the sky.
"Does the moon have a purpose?" She inquired.
The same query put to the Remington SL3
Elicited this response:
Albert Camus wrote that the only serious question
Is whether to kill yourself or not.
Tom Robbins wrote that the only serious question
Is whether time has a beginning and an end.
Camus clearly got up on the wrong side of bed,
And Robbins must have forgotten to set the alarm.
There is only one serious question. And that is:
Who knows how to make love stay?
Answer me that and
I will tell you whether or not to kill yourself.
Answer me that and
I will ease your mind about the beginning and end of time,
Answer me that and
I will reveal to you the purpose of the moon.


2. TWO

Somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
Any experience, your eyes have their silence:
In your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
Or which i cannot touch because they are too near

Your slightest look easily will unclose me
Though i have closed myself as fingers,
You open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(Touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

Or if your wish be to close me, i and
My life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
As when the heart of this flower imagines
The snow carefully everywhere descending;

Nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
The power of your intense fragility: whose texture
Compels me with the colour of its countries,
Rendering death and forever with each breathing

(I do not know what it is about you that closes
And opens; only something in me understands
The voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands


3. THREE

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In that princedom by the sea.
But we loved with a love that was
more than just love,
With a love even the seraphs up in heaven covet.

And that was the reason that long ago,
In that princedom asleep by the sea,
That a wind shut her body in a sepulcher,
Buried in the sea,
That bore my sweet darling away from me.

Oh, the angels they envied us-envied our love.
Yes, that was the reason the wind came out,
Stirred the air and made the waves shake madly,
Killing my Annabel Lee. Oh my Annabel Lee.

Our love it was strong. So strong
That neither the angels up in heaven
Nor the demons in the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the
Soul of my Annabel Lee.


4. FOUR

There was once a great kingdom,
And its great king had a beautiful daughter
Who passed her days in solitude,
Weaving garments for the pleasure of her father.
One day, while she was sitting beside the great river,
Peering across, she saw a handsome young shepherd boy
Leading his flock through the pasture.
Immediately, she fell in love.
Thereafter, she became terribly disheartened,
Knowing that, due to her duties at the loom,
She would be unable to pursue that love.
The king, aware that by his bidding such despair
Had befallen her, felt great remorse,
And arranged for her to marry the shepherd.

There marriage was one of happiness from the start,
And everyday thereafter they grew happier and happier.
However, in immersing herself in her marriage,
The princess had neglected her weaving
And the great king became angry.
Unable to reconcile with that anger,
The great king banished each of the lovers
To opposite sides of the great river,
Allowing them only to meet once each year:
On the seventh day of the seventh month.
On that day, a ferryman would carry the shepherd boy
Across the river to the princess,
And return him home at day's end. However,
If the princess has not fulfilled her obligations
At the loom the king floods the river,
And the two can not meet