The Sempiternal Barge

The world has been crushed beneath a unifying principle 
The poets like to call this nauseating paradigm 
“Love upon first sight.”
Judge a character within a heartbeat,
Reenvision nightmares chiseled to your liking 
Like a rogue Pygmalion masturbating balls of clay 

There is nothing new under the snowfallen tundras 
A wedded couple glances out the window
Faltering at the expanse of snow 
Once she heard her husband breathing shadows 
Whereas she had always coveted the Forms 

When we reminisce we always think of prophets 
Locusts swarming the Egyptian king 
A woman kneels before a mattress 
Cradling a distaff 
Another oversees the fireplace 
Apprehending beauty in its ashes 
One can always find a lover in nostalgia 
But to be like all the sinking ships—

They say love is like a pair of bees engaged in dance—
Jealous, frantic, eager to preserve the sweetest honey;
Every pair envisions its own ways, 
And lookers-on will stray away 

She said, this is a heartbeat made of wishes
He said, when you are forty-five 
Would you want to love a woman who is fifty?
When Troy burned up Achilles said,
Do not go on without me 
If they went up in flames—
I wish they would go up in flames!— 
And leave you here with me alone 

The noblest poets could not read their words 
The stateliest composers heard their music only in their heads 
Yet when the lightest ailments befall us 
We break out in screams 
Not because we see no other way 
But because we have been given the conditions 
Under which we have the luxury 
To scream 

These maxims will not change 
They have borne witness to a thousand painters’ gaudy strokes 
Objects become formless 
And the human ear can replicate only a score of melodies 
You march in single file 
Be careful not to tread on others’ heels 
Yet we are all one sickening conglomerate 
I hear the foghorn of a fleeting ship