Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SURFACES AND MASKS; 25, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: See that stern castle?


See that stern castle?
It was once
a great old whorehouse.
Now, all alone, empty,
closed for centuries,
no boat anchor; it's unmarked.
It might even in some ways
be seen as a lonely casa
in a graveyard,
for over here, on this side
not far from the cemetery
the merry daylight of death
is always waving
its tear-stained flag.
Still,
vain, dreamy, defamed
and the victim
of a lost fortune, this place
is a sentry
to the flesh-grinding profits
of the pirates
who smiled beautifully
and lived filled with noise
while trying to avoid the Bridge
of Sighs.
Stout women once leaned
out
of those windows
purring like motorboats,
waving to sailors
passing below
in narrow boat
after narrow boat --
long slender nice-looking narrow boats.

If we were to glide by
now,
very close to the dock,
we would hear the echoes
of an enchanted though bruised
life;
peculiar in its solitude, while
thoughtless
in its sentimental enthusiasm.
As we go by
out here, far from it,
without moral peril,
in our vaporetto,
we are travelers,
far too far from those decorated windows
to catch even the ghosts
of kisses thrown,
for centuries,
down
from them.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net