Venus at Dusk
by Richard Vallance
Preludio
"Qui primavera sempre ed ogni frutto." —Dante
"Ragionando con meco ed io con lui." —Petrarca
(Here is every fruit of every spring) —Dante
(My reason is in his as his in mine) —Petrarca
Inomminata* Venus, breasts aflame,
risen from the sea on her shell of pearls,
her gracious beauty innocent of shame,
the Zephyr poised over the conch's whorls.
Her grace was such as Botticelli gleaned
from such celestial dreams of lambent light,
of manna, milk of Heaven Leda§ weaned
her from before she leapt from Zeus' sight.¶
As soon as she was free of Zeus' brow,
her majesties declared her Virgin Birth.
a Miracle immortal as the vow
of Eve's naïvité in Eden's Earth.
What painter in the present dusk of time
bears witness far the less as his sublime?
* unnamed, unspoken, sous-entendu
§ Leda the Swan, mother of Venus in this sonnet
¶ Venus leapt at birth a virgin Lady from Zeus' brow
volume 12(9)
May 1, 2008
This poem is copyright © February 27 2008,
Richard Vallance, all rights reserved.
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