> Why snub it!... Allow me to hazard a guess; the content of the poem is either too personal? Too emotionally risqué? Too exuberant in a mushy way that might make certain people squirm uncomfortably? :-)

Actually, I just don't think it's all that good. If I thought it was really too personal or squirm-inducing, I don't think I'd even post it here.

>...translations are so dauntingly literal that they exclude multiple meanings from the Hebrew poetry.

I've never studied the Song of Songs very closely, so I'm ignernt as to the richness of its meanings in the original Hebrew. That would be a nice subject to read a paper on, though, if anyone has written about it.

> Touch me again!
> In the moment you broke from me,
> I knew nothing
> But the emptiness of longing,
> My ears filled with far-off thunder
> And my vision with the vast tracts
> Of a distant wasteland
> When its spring rainfall burns away.
> Yes, hold me!
> The hunger of Oureboros consumes me.
> Under your caress alone
> The tremulous fires burn sweetly,
> Satin'd honey and cornsilk locks
> Glowing from warmth to warmth,
> Slowly loosening my Gordian knot.
> Come, embrace me eternal!
> Let the very flows of the Lethe
> Be parched dry in prodigious recall,
> Drawing the nectar of Mnemosyne to memory.
> May this moment stretch forever --
> Oh, hold me and kiss me again!

Well, you've out-Greek-myth'ed me, for sure. :-)

Did you produce this parallel poem in just a few minutes? If so, do you often just come up with verse right on the spot? Earlier in the thread, I wanted to invent a little impromptu poetry of my own in response to Kiki's beautiful piece, but was rather dry of inspiration. Ah, well.

One of the things I like best about your poetry (which probably showed in the P-A-M version of it) is your description of colors and textures, or materials with their own distinct, inherent color and texture. I don't know if that's because you do it well, or because I just happen to be affected by that sort of thing. Probably both. :-)

Iss "she's got vast .... tracts o' wasteland!" achar