26 March 2013
The lady said: “I want …you write
A poem just for me, about myself …”
And in a closing chord she stipulated:
“It must be funny!”
The lady left. The poet sat confused.
Had any lady throughout history
Put such demands with such precision
And contradiction?
Had any lady …? Would the Queen of Egypt
Have begged Marc Anthony to write
A poem about love with funny quirks …
I have my doubts.
Consider Dante Alighieri
And Beatrice, famously extolled,
Walking the bridge across the Arno…
No fun, not even her address.
And yet the lady said: “You write …!”
And unlike Beatrice, unlike
Cleopatra, stood before me
Her figure and her voice enveloping
Her charm and beauty… I declare,
Who needs the girl from Florence?
Or from Alexandria?
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