Love as Sung by Alexis
“He is not foolish, nor yet is he wise;
But he is made up of all kinds of quality,
And underneath one form bears many natures.”
From the Phaedrus of Alexis,
In Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae
Alexis steps away most carefully
From saying that the god called love is male
Alone. No. He or she is prayerfully
Invoked as every sex combined. The gale
That rushes in our ribcage when love grabs
Our hearts is not a maleness that impales.
It is not femininity that takes
Us deeply in. The open throat assails
Us with its need for poetry and song
And other fevered, flesh-like needy things,
Destroys logic, and imposes long
Fulfillments in us, flying without wings
The way we fly in nightmare scenes above
The ground of life, mouths opened wide for love.