Am I fine, am I beautiful? (From A Lady Fair and Other Poems, To Be Published this year.)

Am I fine, am I beautiful?

I possess many rubies,

And I dine with kings.

I own many fair things,

And my face is young and fresh to the eyes.

Handsome musicians vie for my gaze,

They tell me so in secret ways,

Beneath the blue, enchanting skies.

So tell me then, if I am fine.

The perfume of my body

Is of delicious wine.

So tell me truly,

Am I pretty, am I fine?

My lips are round, and are redder than the rose.

Even the poet in his cloister, in his flowery close

Writes of me this hour.

Tell me, then, do I have power?

O poet of every starlit season,

O bard of greatness, use your reason,

And tell me, then, if I am fine.

“No,” the poet solemnly said,

“For within your spirit you are naught but what is dead.”

And so, scorned, I walked away,

To find another bard to say:

“Thou art lovely, thou art fine,

More gloriously beautiful than the goddess-like sway

Of mighty Aphrodite, walking in the sunshine.

Thou art lovely, thou art fine!”

~  John Lars Zwerenz