Strip-tease

Soft toys that make seem girls
In two whitewash with two coral
Valves of lip printing each others’ grease. …
A clockwork Cupid’s bow. Increase!
Their cherry-ripe hullo brims the open purse
Of eyes washed white by the marmoreal light;
So swaying as if on pyres they go
About the buried business of the night,
Cold witches of the elementary tease
Balanced on the horn of a supposed desire. …
Trees shed their leaves like some of these.



Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990)