The fiery passion-angel By cemetery side - Romanticism's avenger - Took us upon a ride Through all the passion's ranges From heartbreak to delight, Into and through derangement And gave us second sight - Through rapture and through sorrow Through beauty and through wrath Through sunlight and through snowstorm And through both life and death: Leading half-way to heaven Leading half-way to bliss And, like a pitch-black raven, Pitching upon the trees From which it cawed and muttered And, with my soul in beak, Threw me into a gutter Wherefrom I now speak. It was a gorgeous journey, It was a glorious ride, Running in early morning Out to the riverside, Holding you, gently breathing, With your head next to mine, Tenderness endless feeling With our hearts intertwined, Kissing you softly sleeping On the dock in my arms, Feeling the passion deepen Under the flashing stars, Doing, in exaltation, Pull-ups off trees and walls, Feeling the inspiration Reaching impassioned souls, Learning French, and embracing Upon a waterbed, On a lakeside undressing Inside a sleeping bag, Reciting Blake and Coleridge Hearing your brilliant speech Acquiring truth and knowledge - What more could I beseech: You are like stars in heaven, You are like wind and rain, You are like moon and Neptune You are both joy and pain - I fathom all that happened And whether I'm in rue Or whether I am happy I won't get over you. In beauty that we shared, Passion that through us coursed Is end to all despair And end to every curse: Taking to divine splendor Taking to the truths sublime Where I can't sit, lie or stand or See, but feel space and time Before this passion melting, Turning soft in my glove, As from it I am smelting The sculpture to our love - From truth that you've awakened Comes knowledge of the whole And, if I'm not mistaken, Keys to the human soul. I'll take what you have given And use it as a key To place where all's forgiven And all the paths are free - To reach higher and deeper Uniting sky and earth And in my heart to keep her - Love to which we gave birth. The passion's flaming angel Broke through the clouds to forge Upon the divine anvil A burning blowtorch Melding the pearls and iron Into a wedding ring And into its environs Bringing eternal spring, Puncturing through the seeming There to avail of light - Angel of passion, dreaming From day into the night. The messenger of passion Took me into the sky And I took a concussion While learning there to fly - And, as I was still dreaming Of living in the sky, The angel turned a demon And screamed at me to die. https://sites.google.com/site/ibshambatpoetry