The Courting Dance

Of such tales are timeless legends
born, of star-crossed love and tragedy
(Abelard and Heloise; Montagues
and Capulets, Pyramus and Thisbe)
those whose loving attraction
offended the covenants of nature
and condemning society.  Why the
authenticity of such love is spurned,
the lovers destined to ostracism,
condemnation, fear and loathing
condemns those who spoil the
union, not the lovers themselves.

She, delicately beautiful, her dark
eyes consuming his presence,
illuminating for her the purpose
to which she was born, swoons in 
wide, graceful swoops about his
hovering presence, as he, smitten
with an emotion never before
experienced, feels himself, his large,
hale presence, weaken deliriously
adjacent her luminous being.

Perhaps it can be construed as a
manifestation of nature's mischief,
this occasional propensity to challenge
the creatures she loves, to solve their
dilemmas of genetics, social structures,
tribes, clan offensives and survival
when faced with the conundrum of
opposites attracting.  He, with his
dour, commanding, dark presence,
and she, brightly lively; tiny, fragile.

In the springtime woods, tender 
green shoots impulsively obey the
sun's alluring call.  All the living
things that had suspended their
animating force have now awakened
to impetuous instinct.  The brilliant
orange comma swirls and circles
passionately about the Mourning
Cloak, encouraging the dalliance,
responding in kind, not of a kind.

Gregorio Pagoni Piramo y Tisbe Oleo, Uffizi, Florence