You ask me if I did enjoy
My visit to the cloisters.
What can one ever say
About irrationality?
Of thoughts that come down
Through the years to haunt
Us; darken a sweet hour,
Pull a deadening cloud
Across the sun?

You knew that long I had
Intended paying visit to that
Peaceful place; to sit
And calmly look about me,
Soothed by statuary ...
Finding solace contemplating
Ancient beauty...

And yet, I can remember nothing
Of all this I'd hope to find.
I only thought about the verses
I had written. Stupid,
Dangerous poetry ...never to be
Seen by anyone but me,
Because they prove my love
Cannot be where it should be.

I saw a statue with a broken heel,
And put my hand upon it... then
I heard a sound; The merest
Whisper; looking to the ground,
I saw a small green lizard,
And there came into my mind
The memory ...
Chilling and terrible, of the
Thing that we had read
So many years before:
"... a little sound behind
her made her shudder; but
it was only a green lizard
which did disappear into a
fissure of the marble..."

I looked about me; tried to find
Reality , but yet, I was alone
In a small hidden place
Two thousand years ago.

Oh, no! I must get out of here!
This is... this year, merely,
And I am but a woman who has
Written lines to an illicit love!

It happens every day, so why
Should I be haunted by a feeling
Of impending doom by my own hand?
I did not ask the cursed gifts
From you, and if I had...
You'd not want me to wear them.
You never wished me harm...

Once more the sun came out,
And, for a moment, I could see
Manhattan. It was good
To be alive again in my own time!
And you, dear friend, who do
Not know, are such a nice
Young man... and such an
Honest person with your art.

Can I be less than honest
Now? I am a poetess;
And being such, might I
Not show my muse to all the world?
However I did come by these
Proud gifts, I've got them
And they must be worn!

Continued...