Author Information
At The Villa
Accepting the first invitation,
the subsequent proposal,
and the finalizing ceremony,
I had not at all expected
a place to live like this---
not at all implied by the world of prose and poses.
A rural, Roman villa, on a farm
you have hired out (for the rent and a share of the crops).
In your study is one shelf for the books you have written;
and two walls of shelves for the books you collect,
history and poetry.
On the ancient stone walls that
separate our lawns from the many, planted acres
(thriving lushly in this perfect weather),
early Christian inscriptions
attest to the faith and the names
of those who dwelt here, safely
sheltered from persecutions of all kinds.
When, from the back porch, you called out my name,
inviting me out to enjoy it with you,
I threw the bed's rumpled sheet around me,
a make-shift toga admittedly;
and that was random.
But I had already drawn upon my legs
new fishnet stockings that you had purchased for me---
the most fashionable style,
medium meshes,
closed by silk weave at the toes and heels;
that, and my shoelessness, were deliberate.
You led me past the cypress tree,
past the fountain some four thousand years old,
over to the miniature vineyard,
where sunlight fell on the breeze-lapped leaves,
and in their shade and silent witness,
I drew you in to love me.
Starward
[jlc]
