irresistible,
you see her walking,
her hands full of poppies
and silver-gilt barley
you cannot help but follow
the sway of her hips
in flounced skirts,
the sway of her breasts above,
the gold and faience beads
sliding over gleaming skin
brows like a swallow’s wing
reddened lips
and scarlet suns painted
on her cheeks and chin
kohl-lined eyes
deeper than the sacred pool
she has aphrodite’s love
all men are fools for her,
all women too
the poets will get it wrong
they will forget
her power was of the earth and sky,
not just of lovers’ sighs,
yet that the two were linked
in their songs
they put too much eris and thanatos,
a sullied eros only,
a betrayal of charis,
too many bright blades
and cities burning
in her world
her beauty was not a tragic gift,
but an emblem:
the favor of the gods made clear,
a kingdom’s talisman
against all want and fear,
the sun’s own child,
her radiant face
fortune’s magnet
she is waving grain,
figs and olives bending branches,
rain on the fields,
bounding lambs,
dripping combs,
grapes bursting in the wine vats,
children laughing in the lanes,
the glowing sun
drawing goodness from the land
when she stretches out her hand
the earth hearkens
let the girls dance for her by the river,
let matrons offer mirrors in her temple,
let men watch her walk
and ache
she is the spark
that lights all fire
dispelling all dark
irresistible
