Eurydice

Eurydice

Summer was suddenly tumbling into fall

As you descended to the Underworld

Where Cerberus, three-headed, kept the gate.

I glimpsed you at the turning of the stair,

Witnessed the pallor of your frightened face,

Your anguished eyes, your wry, despairing smile

And knew you must set foot on that black barge

Where Charon’s Stygian crew would hold you fast.

I seized you by the hand I’d longed to kiss

Since first you came to see me, drenched with rain,

And fled with you beyond those crumbling walls

That circumscribe the city of the damned

Where all the Good of Intellect is lost[1].

Northwards we rode, crossing the Boundary

That separates the living from the dead,

Until at noon, with Helios on high,

We found an ancient track that led us straight

Unto your father’s house; an arcane cove

Where white sands sloped down to a turquoise sea,

And there we rested, there we linger still,

Swearing that we shall never part again

Though sea and sand grow dark with winter rain

And ecstasy’s transmuted into pain. 

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[1] …‘Che han perduto il ben del intelleto.’ (Dante, Inferno)

COPYRIGHT (C) 2010 J D FRODSHAM