Riffs on the lyric Chloris
The lyric Chloris (after Théophile de Viau–1590-1626)
If it’s true, Chloris, that you love me
(and I understand that you love me well)
then the ecstasy of kings
couldn’t rival my happiness
and even the joys of heaven in death
would be unwelcome
Paradise couldn’t surpass the sweet ambrosia,
the fiery nectar of love in our veins
or how your favor for me reflects against eternity
and the love I see in your eyes
The Riffs
1.
She hated solitude and wouldn’t retreat He wasn’t interested in his illness and wouldn’t discuss it Mom was always smiling at people she didn’t want to smile at—she did it for you He remained in his tent that morning and sobbed like some broken hearted woman All felt for him and pitied him The loss of the orange trees still lingers here Not one of us will ever come back
2.
Happiness is insensitivity— he relies on suggestions, rituals, lightly held beliefs Nature is wider than her obtuse, anxious, speculations His loneliness for her is self-imposed It’s time to leave her now... They didn’t live together, not right away May the universe obliterate her lies, or save her This failure’s so severe, so human There were no revelations in this ardent, anxious, violence— not for us She pretends to love but he just can’t see her
3.
She followed the hearse to the church but didn’t attend the funeral out of deference to the family We’re all bad detectives, bad at discovery It wasn’t a moral failure It was a failure of fellowship and good feeling She looked so small standing alone in that doorway... Admiration or aversion— you praise, desire, blame or despise She was attracted to swindlers and was a deep seated grifter herself— he looked at her then with such love in his eyes
-December 20, 2011-