By permission of Alex Broughton, whose works these are.
Discalced
To Mr HH on the sweet privilege that is his unclothing.
Discalce? Your feet, by habit shod and neat,
I loose to run with mine on sea-damp sands.
I both address and undress you, and meet
prevarication with a kiss, the while my hands
further with gentle and determined skill
their appointed course to divest you. Heart
and head as much as garments fall, yet will
you yield me all your glorious self? No part
reserved, recalcined and remote? I see
With every limb revealed, the gift of grace
and suddenly am still, awed; just to be
here, now and stripped of artifice. Your face
is mirror true to mine. Then two are one
and love lies open, and envious is the sun.
AK, Sandy Bay, Gibraltar, 1797
Demi -paradise
To Mr HH, co –creator of the demi- paradise
Not yet Arcadia, not yet Eden bright;
not far from both , as we both love and love.
Paradise is here, held within the sight
your beauty brings, the heart whose all you give
to mine. Though both are bruised and shy of trust
Love has within it faith , and ours is love
enough to shape a world new-made, which must
raze past harm to dust, and yet may move
grief’s mountain, levelled by honest open
speech. There is in you such strength of will, in
me of hope. Together much is spoken
of how we change the world. For us to win
each other is to win the whole. Your heart,
my world, mine yours, elation every part.
AK, Sandy Bay, Gibraltar, 1797
Laid up in ordinary
A phrase heretical when used of you.
Lying with you, in confined space and dark
Constrained by circumstance to silence, do
What fate will with us, still remains the spark-
Your alchemy- that makes of every bed
narrow, thin or mean, a holy ground, fit
haven both to body and to soul. Led
by love and lust and laughter , I would sit
beside you, singing in a wilderness
for, were you there, the barren earth would
turn to pillowed rest, arid sand to gold, less
desert than harbour, where for my every good
I sail within. Laid up in warmth, in love
In extraordinary you, I move.
AK, Indefatigable st sea, off the Biscay coast.
February 14, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Beautiful…love belowdecks, perhaps in a creaking hammock…mmm…delicious. 🙂
February 14, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Isn’t Alex a clever girl? Sheer brilliance, all of these.
February 14, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Better than I’ve ever seen in a greeting card. Those who scoff at fan writing should read these.