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This poem is taken from PN Review 112, Volume 23 Number 2, November - December 1996.

Two Poems C.K. Stead


Si Quicquam Cupido Optantique…

     Longed for so long
no longer expected
you're back
        rarer than gold
than hen's teeth
whom I in my need
                denied
derided.

         More mysterious
Muse
         in your return
than ever in your absence
see what you've done -
  a notebook almost full
poem after draft of poem!

                  Here to stay
Clodia
or passing through
what can I do
    but bow the knee
        what can I say
but welcome!
...


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