An Aphrodite night
When sadnesses besiege you:
At the dying of the light
And starlight illuminates
The ending of the day,
Then star-crossed lovers
Quietly drift away;
Sigh silently out of sight
Of mirror, water, eyes'-delight
You will find humankind
lose their disguise....
We spin and whirl and echo,
and dance with hemlock in the hay,
we are Witch and Wicca, Wizard
night and day....
We sway beneath the moon
and dream our dreams away....
For all that was lost
is summoned a-new:
pentacles aflame tonight
the sky, the earth, ablaze with light.
Time and tide and star-shine do not lie.
Warp and weft weaves
across the lonesome sky,
towards the dying of the light,
with goddesses deceiving
as light bends and curves —
an Aphrodite-night's occurring.
John Marks
Tue 23rd Aug 2022 20:28
Thank you Clare, Frederick & Stephen. Hundreds of drafts over ten years is usual for me. "I could no more define poetry than a terrier can define a rat." AE Housman.