Weed, moss—weed, root tangled in sand, sea—iris, brittle flower, one petal like a shell is broken,

Where the slow river meets the tide, a red swan lifts red wings and darker beak, and underneath the purple down

So you have swept me back, I who could have walked with the l… above the earth, I who could have slept among the l… at last;

YOU are as gold as the half—ripe grain that merges to gold again, as white as the white rain that beats through

Bear me to Dictaeus, and to the steep slopes; to the river Erymanthus. I choose spray of dittany, cyperum, frail of flower,

From citron—bower be her bed, cut from branch of tree a—flower, fashioned for her maidenhead. From Lydian apples, sweet of hue, cut the width of board and lathe,

Whirl up, sea— whirl your pointed pines, splash your great pines on our rocks, hurl your green over us,

Over and back, the long waves crawl and track the sand with foam; night darkens, and the sea takes on that desperate tone

I saw the first pear as it fell— the honey—seeking, golden—banded, the yellow swarm was not more fleet than I,

The light passes from ridge to ridge, from flower to flower— the hepaticas, wide—spread under the light

Each of us like you has died once, has passed through drift of wood—l… cracked and bent and tortured and unbent

Stars wheel in purple, yours is no… as Hesperus, nor yet so great a st… as bright Aldeboran or Sirius, nor yet the stained and brilliant… stars turn in purple, glorious to…