Corporeality (Sestina Form)

If sweet a medley rose

From engine of the skin,

Then every chance is coined

An enterprise in time,

Some purpose beating there,

Let fall what comes to quick.

........

And steady on this quick—

The eyes to learn what rose

Not knowing here from there,

But legend of the skin

Is sifting through the time,

The mystery of coin.

........

When hand holds firm the coin

So driven to be quick

Upon a wretched time,

Corolla of the rose

Envelops on the skin.

But not just hue is there

.........

A birth of life is there!

Alas, the spent, old coin

Bereaving from the skin—

Oh! steady on this quick;

A growth just as a rose

Through storms from time to time.

.........

Resources gained in time

Could lose a place in there,

Where everywhere there rose

The spending of a coin

(As goes within this quick)—

This perishable skin.

.........

And I let spin this skin—

That’s all to have for time

Indwelling of this quick.

Those lovelies here and there

Are destined to be coined:

Corolla of the rose.

..........

This rose I rest, this heart of skin

To coin a mirroring of time—

Not there, but steady on this quick.