Love Poem of the Pyrenees, by Cyrus Cassells

In the hush after coupling,

calm’s pearled cotillion,

we listen as if,

at an iridescent hour,

the Pyrenees themselves

could sing--

How simply it crests within us,

this heaven-in-the-other,

human, yet unsurpassed.

On this long night

of lilac and tobacco,

we praise its sweetness,

knowing the spiritless squander it

as maquillage,

or a pitiless scepter

in a place of incest--

Find the bell pull,

bring down the morning star

to allay us:

sex is a troubadour’s pulse,

a song:

bivouac of twilight

bridge of mountain dawn.

From “Beautiful Signor” by Cyrus Cassells (Copper Canyon: 112 pp., $14) Copyright 1997 Reprinted by permission.