where oh where then
does such a glow develop into fruit
something surely
must surreptitiously have been subtracted
from the terraqueous globe
for it to pant so
to turn pale
and for mourning to spread itself
utterly in vain
the
almond
oj
the
world
throbs amid the foliage
of Paradise by default
I too throb amid the words that in ignorance I subtract
from some perfect achievement
until finally
all
that's left for me
are two or three standing columns
and on the walls a fresco
let's say Creto-Minoan (if in the meantime
they haven't effaced
the seas and those lovely barebreasted women)
some lilies are still preserved
inconceivable to my contemporaries
even as these verses :
a total eclipse
the moment that everyone's asleep in the Observatory.
IV. Even if you have it
all
something's always lacking
it's enough the Integral is not accomplished
and Fortune feel more fortunate
at night when hostile eyes appear
in the same place like stars
shadows are described as they descend
one by one to Hades
like those blacks on the sides of an ancient vessel
borne by stooping virgins
