Sestina To The Ballerina Poem by Barry Middleton

her seductive dance enchanted
but with the season she departed
a swan bursting into flight
took the passion from the night
to seek a foreign tropic home
of ecstasy and lands unknown

in all the dark of that unknown
nothing in the world enchanted
winter's cold became my home
as in the mist the swan departed
no song could rise into the night
no phoenix struggled into flight

the ash of love cannot take flight
as seasons turn to the unknown
and lovers disappear one night
the heart no longer is enchanted
its fragile pulse is now departed
and leaves me in my icy home

and yet I crave the fire of home
but passion too is only flight
to cruelly pass with love departed
without a balm for pain unknown
in lonely dreams that are enchanted
by her graceful dance each night

and so it seems an endless night
of darkest earth and silent home
for mine is but a grave enchanted
as swans at midnight take to flight
and one can hear the vast unknown
of poets and of love departed

november's eve and souls departed
return but once upon that night
with howling cries from the unknown
arising from their graveyard home
to join the lonely grief of flight
as winter's breath wafts enchanted

departed ghosts are thus enchanted
the swan and night in endless flight
in their unknown and wintry home