The Eyes Have It
“The man was tall, well-built, almost athletically
with the perfect oval face of an angel in exile,
with untidy light brown hair and eyes of
disturbing pale blue” — Paul Verlaine
His irises were doubly blue, dark blue
And azure circled. Or perhaps they were,
More properly, improper blue shot through
With darker thorns, equivalent to myrrh
And frankincense—if only colors had
A scent, if only Christ deserved to be
Compared to him. Christ simply wasn’t bad
Enough to parallel this prodigy
Whose eyes and evils and bravura shone
More beautiful than any Christ Child could.
This boy’s sky eyes made more than one man moan.
Their manhoods and their hearts were nailed to wood.
..This Rimbaud’s face contained two rainbows of
Contrasting blue, the specters of verse love.
