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EURIDICE TO ORPHEUS

One look now and like the evening light that fades
Our hopes and happiness consumed by Hades
Bound in the pits by darkness overpowered
Shall by woes and lamentations be devoured.
Alone I danced on dark fires through the starless air
Weeping against conflicting winds
In search of that one stair
To Life and Love.
The longed-for smile now kissed,
The pain to know what we have missed
Since all our wishes have been thwarted -
Like Psyche not to be worshipped but courted,
Like Psyche, prepared to wed the dark and evil gods,
I will, like her who strove against their cruel odds,
Commit myself to all impossibilities until I faint -
But unlike Cupid, you shall save me only by restraint.
To turn and drink my image in this poisonous place
Will show you nothing but a goddess' face.
Your wife thus lost can only fall into the depths of Hell,
And who she was and where she went
You will hereafter never tell.
My Orpheus, o my Orpheus, love that leads me on
Haunts you with a craving heart
That cries the distance out;
Though never look around
To see your name be recognized aloud -
Restrain! My love! Until we've reached our daybreak new
And we unite where once for us
The white-feathered bird's-wing flew.

12 december 1990
From: The Secret Garden