A Prior Despair by Scott Cairns

After Kavafy

When I saw that I had lost her completely, I sought the dulcet

taste of her on the lips of each subsequent woman, her fragrant

flesh in the fold of every lover's nape thereafter, and her heat

welling with my own and drawing out an urgency in each

ambiguous woman met in that tortured interim.

When I saw that I had lost her I was lost, and held

my eyes shut tight that I might so delude my wits as to trust

that it was she receiving me, that it was she returning

with delight the urgent drive against the unbearable

distance--two bodies, struggling toward agreeable repose.

Then, tasting once a sudden kiss so suddenly presented,

I saw another prospect rise to view, and knew reprieve

from the familiar ring of hell, from which I rose and marveled

at the offer of another life whose heat and heady fragrance

rose, delirious to burn deliciously, and not consume.

(In celebration of National Poetry Month, I am sharing a poem each day this month.)