Persephone (Barber Patricia)

Summer pales, like a ghost of stubborn Spring This itch, this prayerful longing for heat Belies an angel’s desire to take wing So as you fall, then fall into me sweet Persephone now your poet and guide Night after day after night I’ll complete Your saintly goodness with its darker side As one without the other is naive Past Limbo, to the Second Circle we slide: When first you whisper that little white lie The gods will laugh The gods will cry In this soft circle, Reason’s slave to desire This feels like fun This feels like fire These small indiscretions may get lost over time So much like love So much like crime As fine fine fabric slipping over your skin This feels like silk This feels like sin Like a gentle dirty dream Like a room where you can hide Like confession in your sleep Like expression sanctified Like a devil, like a friend Like a doctor who can end your pain Like a pillow, like a kiss Like a party, like a pill Like a priest my lovely lips As redemption will fulfill Every spectral midnight fantasy Each and every damning desire to be Complicit with me And as I leave you softly under the stars Without a scratch Without a scar Like hell on earth slipping under your skin This feels like love This feels like sin