haunted in darkness I slip
into a Dionysian dream.
unique, alone, forgotten--
freed from the shroud of tortured bards.
Cradled only by the moon,
infused with light and evanescent,
I move through the darkened apple orchards of revelation.

Aphrodite, the goddess of my temptation,
enticing me into the womb of sin.
Offering the fruit to fertilize my mind
and to grow in the womb of knowledge.
Erotic, the apple wine of the cosmos--
I am possessed, alone and with a full heart

In the orchard I gild my apple
with the alchemist's gold.
I release and allow the Elysian sweetness
to be the muse of love and words,
and sing the sonnet cycle of my immortal soul.