C: Ah, Lady

Ah, lady&;#8230;

for Jannette

Ah, lady, I have been benighted, fireless,
by bitter springs since you once loved me;
I have been alone where nightmares
take shape and substance in the world.

Now your voice comes to me out of the air,
out of the deep past, rain in a dry season:
and I cannot tell you, lest you take final flight
into that silence round your distant heart:

That in bleak places, I have blown brief fire
from the faded embers of ancient days
to keep the glowing eyes from closing in,
and used your name to conjure up the light.