[Orpheus Speaks]
Cooper Esteban

But was there not a dream, sweet but also terrible,
In which Eurydice, strangely, preceded you?
--Donald Justice, "Invitation to a Ghost"

When she stepped out
of the cave's
shadow, I saw,
at first, through
her. Then
she was flesh, turning,

with just enough
memory--I thought--to want
to condemn me, though there was
nothing in her squint
but the newborn's
repulsion
of the sun. And it was I

who tumbled, my thirst
unquenched
in Lethe; Hades' laughter as fresh
to her ears
as milk hissing into
a pail.

1996 © 2003