Colors for Antinous the Lover
Black
Like the fertile earth wet
With heaven’s rain, seed of Zeus,
Black like the noonday shade beneath
The cypress tree where lovers lie between
Its roots, black like the depth of night in which
True knowledge is gained, not by sight
But by taste and touch
Blue
As the Nile lotus, the ornament of
The Pharaohs, blue as the summer sky,
As the precious lapis lazuli inlaid in a collar,
Blue as the flame of desire in lapis eyes,
As the shadows cast on the afternoon wall
By lovers coupling
Purple
For the hyacinth, a fragrant life
Struck down, for the amethyst and its
Purity, purple for bruises and for sorrows,
Purple that is neither red nor blue nor pink,
A flame of the soul and the spirit of a body,
Purple for the drag queens and purple for the dandies,
Purple for the leather daddies and the lipstick lesbians,
Purple for Marsha and all her trans siblings,
Purple for our queerness, our sovereignty, our royalty,
Purple for all who worship the catamite who became a god,
The unconquerable Antinous, the Lover of body and soul
Colors for Melinoe
Melinoe, black
As Egypt, black
As Nebthet, mistress of
Wesir, mistress of the temple, black
As the vulture’s wing, the jackal’s eye:
Guide me on my journey through the Duat.
Melinoe, white
As Selene, white
as salt, white as snow,
White as old bones stripped
By vulture beaks and scoured by the rain:
Shine on my road in the night.
Melinoe, red
As Sekhmet, red
As bloody jaws, red as rage, red
As the sunset spreading over
The desert, red land west of the Nile:
Burn me clean with your passion.
Melinoe, golden
Lady, saffron-gowned, golden
As the autumn leaves, as the sandaled feet
Of Ariadne dancing the labyrinth
In the stars, golden as honey:
Turn wisdom to sweetness in my heart.
A Nest Made of Words 