DAVID ADÈS

Woman Becomes Gibbus Moon

for Lesley

Here I am, a spectral blue,
fallen from my vibrant hue.

Leave me here to sit alone,
blue of heart and blue of bone.

Here I sit and take my bearing;
regal, stoic, distant, staring.

Gibbus moon, my compass true,
shine upon my heart of rue,

touch me with your silver finger
and at my face, pause to linger.

Only you can hear my call;
how I rise and how I fall,

floating in the arms of night,
draped in treses of your light.

Now I sit here otherworldly:
lost of substance, pale and ghostly,

fallen from my vibrant hue –
just a silent, spectral hue.