A Virginal

			
Unfettered and free to choose as you do
You float and hover, and always disturb
The conscience that knows better than to look
Lightness, brought from the outside world, throws shadows
On the wall the eye must descend in flight
 
Pray, pray blackest night, overtake the day
Or if for nature’s rule you cannot
Then bless this wretched soul with blind strength
Or sharpen my gaze so that I might raze
The beauty that stands above and before me
 
Furthermore, look not this way
Look not up, nor down, nor left, nor right
But keep, as the muscles allow, the neck straight
The will that strives against itself,
Against all it has passed,
Is the will a man should want to want
 
The window’s gaze is steady, sure
The floorboards, too, ready.
The darkness, leaning in a corner,
Grows coy at the sight
Of the task at hand,
The work to do