Sol 5.6

  1. Pass round pure wine, one of the vine’s daughters,

    well-aged, making the unfamiliar seem familiar.

  2. For night’s army has turned and fled, defeated,

    while dawn’s army has met it, advancing in force.

  3. The East arrayed a rank for daybreak,

    and the West arrayed a rank for darkness.

  4. The Eagle flew downward; then darkness clipped

    its foremost pinions, and it plunged down weakly.

  5. Night fastened, from the Pleiades’ pearly beads,

    an earring upon Suha’s neck in the west.

  6. The sky seemed a palace or a pool,

    so clear and delicate whenever you gazed upon it.

  7. As though its celestial Arm were truly an arm,

    extending a palm toward the full moon’s broad face.

  8. The breeze grew gentle and melted away as

    that night’s mantle frayed and turned sheer.

  9. The moon’s dark phase devoured the full moon until

    it became an ivory bangle on Gemini’s wrist.

  10. The wine grew limpid and delicate, until

    it became purer than a forsaken lover’s tear.

Sol 5.6