THE EMPTY PLACE
a sestina by Alyce de Sheppey
The world is a cold and empty place
That pierces a frozen dagger through my heart.
I find my sight to be blinded by cruel tears
And there is a shadow that lies upon my soul.
The pleasures of the court are now without joy
For there is nothing if there is no love.
Can
it be so recently I knew the sweetness of love?
Its
delicious bonds held me in this place
And
each day I had no end of joy.
Love
spread her golden nectar through my heart
And
flamed the consummation of heaven in my soul.
Consumed. Devoured. An ecstasy of tears.
How sweet then the fall of tempest’s rain, like golden tears.
And winter’s breathe could not quell the flame of love.
Like the glory of emerging spring, so was embued my soul.
Your grace, your beauty, held my love captive in place
And filled me with such promise so that it broke my heart.
For even without the sight of you, knowing you were near brought joy.
How could one put measure upon the purest sense of joy?
If they could know such love the angels would weep blessed tears.
To feel you soft against my breast, heart to heart,
Two birds whose wings embrace in love
And fly to ecstasy’s most sacred, secret place
And in her guarded house to finally lose one’s soul.
To feel my body’s pleasure, to feed my body’s soul,
And in your love receive a sacrament of greater joy
Than any priest could grant in any holy place.
For heaven lives within the holy sacrament of tears
That wash us both when spent is physical love
And all that remains is the communion of the heart.
Can it be so recently I felt the knife that pierced my heart?
Driven by the cruel laughter that torments my soul.
Oh faithless one, who gives and then denies love,
Who with wandering, lusty eye outstrips my joy
And casts me into hell, to torment and the anguish of tears,
You mock me and set another lover in my place.
To you these words then, cruel harridan, thief of heart and joy.
You who ravaged my soul with your false tears
And killed love and left this empty place.