Passage-Artemis

Behind the monastery wall Slightly to one side Stands a broken garden house Where lovers like to hide There with arm and leg entwined Youth and joy intone While monks deep chant their masses And human sin bemoan The lovers souls like candles Flame up and burn so bright The glory of their passion Seems to sear away the night The monks they raise their voices Fingers on their beads And pray the darkness Swallow their earthly needs The lovers satiated lie In each other's arms The monks file slowly cellward Whispering their psalms Sleep tucks its golden blanket A kiss A final oath Earth's giant cradle Rocks monk and lover both Drifting down The stars creak in their orbits A school of clouds rolls by Moon smiles like a baby Creeping higher in the sky One half the world wears darkness The other chooses light We wind our way toward heaven Neither wrong nor right To be free