Afternoon

This body is a strange machine

Able to scale mountains

Swim glacial lakes

But rendered breathless

By an enthusiastic romp

In the sheets

I guess I’m at the age now

Where I need a puffer

Before lovemaking

Who else thinks of Rome

While captive to Eros’ charm

When powerful men

Were students of reason

Sonorous resonance of

Inspired orators

Brought new reality

Democracy rising; rushing

Tidal wave reshaping society

Bursting with new ideas

Perhaps it’s not so strange after all

To think of Rome

Right before a climax

It’s lovely being a woman

But sometimes biological gender

Is a nuisance

I do not envision myself

As some senator’s wife

Decorous, silent, hidden

I wish to be myself as-is AND also

Seen as someone worthy

Buoyant on a sea of great thinkers

Warranting merit for

My modest contribution

Asthmatic postmodern society

Has no breath left for great speeches

Inspiration that would

Usher decent people

Toward a golden era

It’s confounding to love a time

Where I would have had no voice

When groups have always existed elsewhere

Who value true wisdom, worth

Irrespective of status and gender

Here I lay; spent, sated

Musing about Ages on the horizon

Perhaps our present, turbulent chaos

Will come unbidden to those

In the midst of passion’s thrall

Recalling the time before

Everything ended (or began)

Frantic energy running rampant

No promise of

Easy release from

Mounting global tension

Pleasure might just be

What got us into this mess

In the first place

But it can’t be all bad

Since these lofty ideas came

In the wake of

An amative Sunday afternoon

As I forgot about the world

And my place in it