from the same period

"A Ladies Man Said to Me"

A ladies man, he says to me, "My friend, you're too far gone.
You should never give your heart away, for if it feels that right, it's wrong."

My friend, I should have told you.  She wears a different dress,
a style that you could not touch, even if you could undress.

An amateur in divination, he volunteers as my sentry
I say, "These arts are dangerous, and by no means elementary."

--We are alive and we are beggars, the dull day preaches of regret
your careless segues intimate that my plans you would abet

A cavern of distilling love, a bullpout tangerine
scavenged from the garden, where she came pure mercury

This madness daze of oleander could rectify the past
no shelter would lay deep enough to dull its dark intrepid blast.

In sight of ashen castles, our horses turned to dust
not many voluntary ways remained for both of us.

The rarity of Heaven, the fragility of frost
my tongue had touched paralysis on the edge of paradises lost.

I am not a careful soldier.  Sometimes love is clean and free
the bloodstained barges that we slaughter on are bleached white by the sea.