Friends told me
To live in wisdom
Or else a mere waste of body and soul remains
But how to follow my darlings’ advice
When your body is flawless
And eyes turned round, as by the sun, to look at it
On the strong shoulders there sit two birds
Wide-winged
Descending from attending lineage of great ships
Prophesying like an oracle that you are foreordained
When through the shirt’s disclosure I see the manly chest
Growing willowy from the harmonious waist
Nostrils start thrilling
Sheltering the scent of beauty
And what wonder can be greater
But the haughty motion
Of hips and legs
Sun-burnt, wind-blown
Which I see as two mountains in the mid of lowland
Knee and joint in motion I behold
As the moon within waves slowly touched by the wind
Looking at your sacred shadow
Happily I chant each part of the triumphant body and mere soul
And the radiant desire
Seized within the young, the healthy laughter
Unveiling your teeth – bits of light
Like the great unction’
