. . . Mais
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
If love were sovereign, we would navigate
The dark canals of instinct in a bright
Blue gondola, our songs reverberate
A sea-shell colored, phosphorescent light.
Before our bow the universe would raise
A row of archways of Murano glass
Reflecting us above the water’s glaze,
But melting like mirages as we pass
The walls of envy rising from the shore
Of cynicism, walls (grown dark with frost-
Like fungus) sinking into sandbars more
Akin to deserts built to house the lost.
A sovereign love would launch sky-colored boats
To where an unclaimed moon forever floats . . .
~ Phillip Whidden