Robert M. Simmons  

from Tracings (Poems 1964-1992)

                    Harold and Claudia

Harold and Claudia had a rapport,

a meaningful relationship

but nothing more.

Each evening they met in Claudia's room

to discuss in depth

some editor's scheme to bring war to an end,

or the latest step in the ecumenical trend

like Abelard and Heloise

in their tomb.

Then one evening the dialogue faltered.

In the pale silence

the room became the purple-walled cave

where pious Tannhäuser labored

as Venus's slave.

Now when they meet it sounds like a battle.

The furniture shakes

and the pictures rattle,

until both have wearied of the fight,

and Harold sneaks off

like Don Juan in the night.

                         © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons

In the Venusberg Tannhäuser by John Collier

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Subjects: poems about, seduction, initiation, character studies, poetry, poems

Harold and Claudia