Hey, you builder of marble stairs,
Look at your hands when you think of love;
Behind your eyes hide the secret of stones
And the baffling fits and turns of your woman's love,
The fickle patterns that it weaves
Into the fabric of your life.
When you bend over tiles of mosaic witchery
That should outlast the tread of passing time,
You see how well your hands have done,
But will they ever be smooth again
As in those days when all you built
Were dream towers in the sun?
Ah, to hold her hands again...
Sweet passage towards the rosy end...
Soon, soon, my love, the stones
Around you cry, echoing your own:
I shall be happy then.
Poor, poor builder of marble stairs.
Bienvenido Nuqui Santos
San Francisco, 1990s
#poetry #bensantos #bienvenidosantos #marblestairs #marlismanleybroadhead
#poetry #bensantos #bienvenidosantos #marblestairs #marlismanleybroadhead
