Sappho

all the songs
sung

each measure
every line

a melody
a phrase

in your name

each stanza
eroded

each fold
corroded

because of
neglect
and fear

oh Sappho
your spell
is not lost

the powerful
fragments
remain

from that dust
from those chips

compose
arias
suspended
in the amber
of our mystery

each fold
a desire

each fragment
a myth

every lost moment
truth

I dance to
the skipping
record of your prose

I jerk
and toss my hair
at every break and tear

drops of
your mortality
lay before
my destiny

oh Sappho
my beauty
my song