Joel Delpha

Knights bedecked in iron mail
'Neath colored tunics came
To slaughter those of different stripe
All for gold and fame.
...

Come my love, discard your clothes
And let us wander bare
And gambol in the sunshine
On this autumn day so rare.
...

Go naked in the rain
Delight in running bare,
Ignoring disapproving glance
And shunning scornful stare.
...

I watch you in the garden
Unfashioned and unjeweled
Tending to your flowers
Unembarassingly nude.
...

...

My wife's at ease in her favorite chair
Quite fully dressed
Though her feet are bare
I'm on the sofa over yon
...

A glorious day indeed
Which gives respite from the autumn chill.
Mercifully free of clothes,
I am bathed in the yellow sunlight
...

I awake suddenly
Awash in darkness - like the womb

Too early yet
...

She strides bravely into the wind
Her veil splayed out
Bannerlike behind.
...

Delighted the juncoes
Tease me along the frozen path.
Flitting from bush to shrub
Scattering, alighting,
...

I should welcome him
One day.
The oft-spurned suitor
Waiting patiently
...

Gone are the violent storms of summer
Which approach in red and orange
An invading army at the city gates.
This is no hammer of Thor
...

Sign me with ashes
Like the ash from the ovens of Treblinka or Dachau
Ash from the burning shelters of Dresden or Tokyo
Ash from a napalmed hamlet
...