Meditation: Poem

Addolorato

I should have loved you then
And let you kiss me—
Far away from caviling whispers
To the shadows of paper lanterns
And suffused stammering chamber waltzes—
But there was snow
And winds stirring the violet sea
Like sweating cello bows assailing breves and semiquavers
Fleeing jaundiced pages on
Frightened
Threadbare staves