Shadow and Alabaster

A remembrance of first love's kiss and a tale of the fall

Shadow and Alabaster 

The young lovers

By

Carlos Lorenzo Estrada 

She was like the taste of covetous fire

In the burning embers of Prometheus's palm

Aflame pliable in disposition toward emotive desires 

Like edges of dream consumed by an opaque vibrance of warmth

In the sweet frigidness of fractured marble 

She shaped herself into an image of Goddess

And I succumbed to the wiles of her profane iridescence 

A mere mortal captured within the solitude of vanities 

If I could but lay with beauty in her ivory arms 

and adorn her with a kiss of malicious avarice 

But I was caught in the allusions of myself 

And found I was trapped by her reality 

In the yearning distinct to her malleable nature 

The semblance of her contours silhouetted my own

Zephyr from parted lips too perfect to know their grace

And I breathed her in to know her secrets lost within her sea

We war in heavy battle no quarter given to our heightened ecstacy 

No lie nor truth pass between us only relevance in moment's brevity 

I was condemned to her in the places lost between virtue and innocence 

Once hidden revealed through nakedness in supple appetent of flesh 

Finding in the timbre of soft aching whisper 

her melancholic hunger to be free from this world

she became summer to my nights and winter to my days

Always hidden within the extremes of her shadowed heart

For at the heights of love I flew too close to her sun

And like Icarus wings I became undone

And with eyes like Medusa I am turned to alabaster

For her love has caste me to stone

Author's Note

My lovely muse who looks like Cate Blanchett ask me if I often think of my very first kiss. I told her no I never dwell on the past. She called me a liar. I said I was being honest, which she immediately slapped me and called me a misogynistic pig. I took offense and said I was a feminist. Which she called me a liar again with another slap and said she could prove I'm misogynist. I took up her challenge. She said if I wasn't than I wouldn't keep imagining her in a black see through silk nightie and thigh high sheer nylons. She has a point. Feel free to comment or leave thoughts. Thank you.

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

I don't know which is worse, a muse who hides or one who comes out swinging. And really, just because of a little lecherous objectification. Of course, the poem depicts something rather more than that. Here we are seeing someone who has become enraptured, nay, enslaved by the beauty and ways of an unnamed female. Any chick that stimulates spontaneous ignition has got to be too hot to handle. And as for you, Cate, button it up. You're no Ursula Andress.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you kindly John for the comment on this poem. Ah first love truly cuts the deepest. It changes you in profound ways and is meant to. I will never forget both the love and the pain after. Some parts of my heart still remain stone after all these many years after because of it. Thank you so much again my friend.

[Patricia]

Well I love it, but not commenting on your comment, that’s between you two, I wouldn’t presume. But lovely poem and wording.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Patricia for your thoughts on this poem I truly appreciate it. I humble myself to my muse and strive to be better. Because honestly women are always right even I know that to be true. My grandmother would rise from the grave and lash me with a tree branch if I ever thought different. Thank you kindly again.

[William Michael Reeves]

You are some kind of wordsmith! Wow!! Excellent rhythm. It just flowed through my mind to my loins. I think they stirred for a moment on a couple of those stanza. I'm gonna have to go look up that one word. Appetent?

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you kindly for the comment William on this poem. I always seek to stir emotion in my writing whether it is laughter, anger, empathy, passion, or love. It is a wonderful compliment to receive a comment that states that sought after goal. I truly appreciate the kind words my friend. Thank you.