Charms for Love

I beat you with a hazel rod

Come to me in madness

I beat you with a bloodied rod

Come like an angel

I beat you with a rod from heaven

Come to me like a wild boar

*       *       *

Ninety-nine serpents—

ninety-nine flaming beasts—

go to Ion

Slip in by his shirt-collar

squat in his heart

scald him burn him   

turn his eyes to my eyes

his face to my face

his path to my house

Make him see me in the distance

a fine-feathered peacock   

make him pick me out as basil among weeds

make him tease me among the girls

Like following gold and silver

fall in step with my words

with my walk   

with my dance

*       *       *

Sweet boy

don't send so much longing—

send a little less

and come with it yourself

*       *       *

Tuesday, basket full of black,

how did you make me fall in love—

did you clip my hair

did you steal my footsteps?

How did you charm me—

with the hair of a mad wolf

with three straws from the bed

with splintered wood   

with the fairness of eyebrows

with a chip off the gate

with dark hair from a braid?

How drive every other love away?

*       *       *

Eagle, eagle, grow into a flying bird

Take yourself to Ion's house

What you find in his head   

take in your head

what you find in his ears   

take in your ears

what you find in his mouth   

take in your mouth

what you find in his hands   

take in your wings

Take that great wrong away in your feathers—

and what you find in your head   

put it in her head

And what you find in your feathers   

put it on the table   

in their house