A CASTLE ON THE RHINE

The Niagara Mohawk Electric Company transformer

Towering over the backyard did not make

Things easier, nor the runners of wires criss-

Crossing the yard. Nevertheless we made love

On the lawn, as though we had pulled our skiff

Onto the grounds of a schloss-am-Rhine,

The whole weight of Europe upon us, as though,

After a picnic of ham, schinkenbrot and lots

Of small beer, we·made love under the lilacs

And rhododendron, and chug-a-lugged that experience.

That was thirty years ago but I remember

The crickets singing in the grass, singing

That all flesh was grass, and we, our limbs

Entwined, sang too a song about each other,

Close like the night.