A sonnet written after Marilyn Hacker

With whispered hands entwined they live a life behind closed doors shut soft and locks half turned; no sons to laugh or born, no rings to mourn the pass of time or dream. The girls just laugh

at sighs and eyes turned down. An age has passed where Camelot is taught and learned. The knights are gone, the castles to dust, burned; le monde sortie dans le feu, les Etats -

Unis est emietter, quelques pense.
It seems all love is blind to swords and words
from lips which speak in verse and meaning false.
Please take some breath and breast, wine and incense,
a touch, slow touch, from lips real meaning, words,
and silenced nothing until the morning calls.