Elegy for Ilinca

(1)

Ilinca awake:
dawn breaks with ceremony
on a dry island

(2)

morning at the mill:
charmed children on the rooftop
reach out for ripe figs

(3)

your sandcastle hands
warm up the winter music
of Chopin in Spain

(4)

terracotta urn,
bright orange hat: vivacious
vessels of dark dreams

(5)

midday siesta
replenishes Ilinca
de la Molina

(6)

sundial shadow
marches round the milltower
marking the hours

(7)

Ilinca at sea:
bald Aphrodite rises
flawless from the foam

(8)

Mallorca sunset:
shade seeps into the courtyard
and the mill falls still

(9)

the mind's smooth as glass
but the body cannot shake
this thistle that clings

(10)

barefooted, clearheaded,
dancing on the starry roof:
Ilinca alight