(thanx Jeff!)

    Delmira Agustini: Ofrendando El Libro

(to Eros)

Because you make the lioness your dog,
O stronger than Life, and bind her fast within
the rose-chain of your arm.

Because your body is the root, the knot
uniting the discordant stems of those
caladiums--pleasure and pain.

Because there blossoms in your beautiful firm
hands, as on a brooch of mystic diamonds,
the so intoxicating lily of Death.

Because higher than Space I can see you,
O bridge of fragrance, melody and light
connecting hell and heaven.

--With resplendent spirit and somber flesh...

(my translation: 1990)


Barbershop music.


"Berryman says Shakespeare’s five best sonnets are 18, 30, 73, 106, and 116..."