The next ones I'm going to read is actually
a fictitious persona I guess, called The Gypsy Angel.
And what I did is I stole a line or really I
stole the whole idea after Rafael Alberti
in Strand's collection.
And the whole point of one of the lines
is that this woman is looking at her lover
and he's asleep and says, your eyes
are two boys that look at the sea, something like that.
And I just kind of elaborate on the conceit
where I made a conceit out of it.
The Gypsy Angel.
Your eyes are two boys that stare at the sea afraid
of my gypsy hands.
At night, my two little ones, you sneak down to the wharf
and steal stars, moons, little boats from the sea.
I watch envious in my skirt of heavy wool.
If only your eyes were peonies I'd pluck them into a jar
and stare at them all day.
My two errant boys who snicker in the silence,
when I'm not looking.
Give me something more than a plate of seaweed
or love a rock filled with stars thrown back low tide.
Sleep now, sleep.
Tomorrow, I'll give you string and paper for your kites
and lead you away.
But first let me sing you to sleep, an old gypsy custom.