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BY A. F. MORITZ
had really given him the reward promised for his accomplished song
and there she was, Eurydice restored, perfectly naked and fleshed
in her rhyming body again, the upper and lower smiles and eyes,
and of the two knees, the feet, the toes, and that expression
she herself had forgotten the learning of: there she was, with him
once more
just for an instant as she vanished. And then he heard her from
behind
the invisible veil, absence: a shrill and batlike but lexical indictment.
Why had he violated the divine command, why, when he had seized
all song to himself and robbed her of power to open her own
oblivion?
gown,
a mythical allusion, since salmon were long extinct in the bays and
rivers here:
oppressed him equally and he went to live among men, waiting for
the crazy
and the competent to join forces and come for him with their
scissors.
to me:
to fern fronds, and men and women sipped my song as you drink
What I sang is lost in time, you don't kmow what it was, all you have
is your own
old stories about me. And if women tore me into pieces, maybe that
only signifies
things.
Albert Frank Moritz, "Orpheus" from Conflicting Desire. Copyright © 2000 by Albert Frank Moritz. Reprinted by
permission of Ekstasis Editions.
Orpheus
BY A. F. MORITZ
had really given him the reward promised for his accomplished song
and there she was, Eurydice restored, perfectly naked and fleshed
in her rhyming body again, the upper and lower smiles and eyes,
and of the two knees, the feet, the toes, and that expression
she herself had forgotten the learning of: there she was, with him
once more
just for an instant as she vanished. And then he heard her from
behind
the invisible veil, absence: a shrill and batlike but lexical indictment.
Why had he violated the divine command, why, when he had seized
all song to himself and robbed her of power to open her own
oblivion?
gown,
a mythical allusion, since salmon were long extinct in the bays and
rivers here:
oppressed him equally and he went to live among men, waiting for
the crazy
and the competent to join forces and come for him with their
scissors.
to me:
between clouds,
to fern fronds, and men and women sipped my song as you drink
What I sang is lost in time, you don't kmow what it was, all you have
is your own
old stories about me. And if women tore me into pieces, maybe that
only signifies
things.
Albert Frank Moritz, "Orpheus" from Conflicting Desire. Copyright © 2000 by Albert Frank Moritz. Reprinted by
permission of Ekstasis Editions.
Orpheus
BY A. F. MORITZ
had really given him the reward promised for his accomplished song
and there she was, Eurydice restored, perfectly naked and fleshed
in her rhyming body again, the upper and lower smiles and eyes,
and of the two knees, the feet, the toes, and that expression
she herself had forgotten the learning of: there she was, with him
once more
just for an instant as she vanished. And then he heard her from
behind
the invisible veil, absence: a shrill and batlike but lexical indictment.
Why had he violated the divine command, why, when he had seized
all song to himself and robbed her of power to open her own
oblivion?
gown,
a mythical allusion, since salmon were long extinct in the bays and
rivers here:
oppressed him equally and he went to live among men, waiting for
the crazy
and the competent to join forces and come for him with their
scissors.
to me:
between clouds,
to fern fronds, and men and women sipped my song as you drink
What I sang is lost in time, you don't kmow what it was, all you have
is your own
old stories about me. And if women tore me into pieces, maybe that
only signifies
things.
Albert Frank Moritz, "Orpheus" from Conflicting Desire. Copyright © 2000 by Albert Frank Moritz. Reprinted by
permission of Ekstasis Editions.
Orpheus
BY A. F. MORITZ
had really given him the reward promised for his accomplished song
and there she was, Eurydice restored, perfectly naked and fleshed
in her rhyming body again, the upper and lower smiles and eyes,
and of the two knees, the feet, the toes, and that expression
she herself had forgotten the learning of: there she was, with him
once more
just for an instant as she vanished. And then he heard her from
behind
the invisible veil, absence: a shrill and batlike but lexical indictment.
Why had he violated the divine command, why, when he had seized
all song to himself and robbed her of power to open her own
oblivion?
gown,
a mythical allusion, since salmon were long extinct in the bays and
rivers here:
oppressed him equally and he went to live among men, waiting for
the crazy
and the competent to join forces and come for him with their
scissors.
Orpheus listened patiently to my poem and when it quieted he said
to me:
between clouds,
to fern fronds, and men and women sipped my song as you drink
What I sang is lost in time, you don't kmow what it was, all you have
is your own
old stories about me. And if women tore me into pieces, maybe that
only signifies
things.
Albert Frank Moritz, "Orpheus" from Conflicting Desire. Copyright © 2000 by Albert Frank Moritz. Reprinted by
permission of Ekstasis Editions.