Joseph Auslander

To My Despoiler

Yes, you have taken everything from me:

Beauty and love and all the measureless

Impatience of proud April; even our sea

Shouting under the gulls; all loveliness

Of form and sound and colour; all that we

Had touched; the curve of things we used to press

Glowing against our senses; mystery

And movement. . . everything taken. . . taken. . . Yes,

Even the little brave irrelevancies

Like brooding water, dripping water-cress,

The cool dark noise of cropping; cruising bees

On hot gold expeditions--even these

You took from me--Oh spare me your caress,

Leave me at least my own stark loneliness!