Had blind Tiresias seen you, would he have bitten his tongue?

folded away that prophecy of doom like old linens

and entreated the gods to let you live

nymph’s daughter (son) so radiant you make caves weep

make mutes sing

how far under the water does a reflection lie?

you seem centimeters, millimeters, just a membrane’s-breadth away

vaulting ribs and hipbones like bas-relief

small hands which tremble reaching up-down out of the water

(into the water) l

ilywhite epicene boything

you are a glowing yellow center

in a pale and failing form

you were beautiful when this began

goldenhour trapped in amber,

sharpeyed, birdboned, luminous

you’ve been hollowed out (cavelike)

lovesick for the first (last) time in your (short) life,

the columns of your arms barely strong enough to hold you in that

absurd arch-backed position wherein you gaze at him (her)

That excuse for a lover that looks so much like you

though I think you don’t quite see the bones under her (his) skin

how they move of their own strange accord

sick dance (waltz) (three-four time beat out on sternums)

your skin bruises like petals, translucent

I touch your back and you don’t even flinch