Perfidia

 
sometimes I awaken angry in the dark
I confront the clock: don’t tell me what time it is
I consider a lover, naked, as if I were not alone
and regard love as an agony equal to this

she won’t let me walk the mournful trails
but keeps me ensorcelled in her candle’d chamber
the air is a rage of exotic perfumes
the music, a symphony of irreverent tambour

adrift in the China quarter of capricieux Paris
a soldier whose weapons are laid demented
a dancer dancing in the arrogant shadows
of passion unconquered & caution relented

with camphorous tongue she inflames my skin
her wings aglide, & the talons of a harrier
she composes the ballad of a warrior’s lament
lays havoc, the ramparts of a mercenary’s barrier

caress me in a mortal way
and let my lust to ash decay
to weep the tears of silent men
where love rose once & fell again

seductive, she lures me, out of a lonely place
where kisses never end & hearts aren’t broken
then I remember, this is neither real nor a fantasy
it isn’t even a dream  –  it’s only a poem…


(Art: Wang Hongzheng)