Man in The Moon
by Stephen Davis (18), Gaytonian 1967
(The late Jim Golland wrote that Stephen Davis "is one of the most promising poets the School has seen")
Have these flesh-bitten hands,
slug-skinned and huge
Touched your Aegean-seal body?
That peerless surface
Of living blanched marble
Sculpted in the live-clay cells.
Was it I who violated
The shrine of your imperfection?
Stealing the sanctity
Of that altar
Where the moon worships,
And ceaselessly is stormed
By the violent sea. Serpent,
Ever assaulting and tempting
Your moon-whiteness to decay.
I am a victim of those breakers
Which roll their rhythm
Through my blood.
And your white-sanded thighs
Are our communal prey
As we flood into caves in the marble rock.