poems by owen lucas

Soft mouth speaking soft words in the cold,
Half-smiling beguiling east-coast girl,
Face flashing instant joy-fix smile,
Wrapped up in fragile spun web, and small.
Carved in pale warm marble, burning up
With modest verses written in your face,
Eternal patient woman in the night—
Out of shifting modes of expressions,
Utterly ungraspable and gentle, tugging
Out of me a tender aching string.
Lit, dull yellow, by a single lamp—
Lay, untouchable, staring love out of
Silent saint-eyes, smoking and divine,
Calling holding lifting eyes of mercury,
Dropping perfect silver tears
Sweet upon departing cheeks.
Small, loving, whole, immediate,
You, indestructible unconscious beauty,
Burning quietly in my unworthy arms
Like the premonition of an angel.