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Yes I like the beauty zeroing down to 'the woman's' pupils, Max. The light and dark works well too. Not sure of enchantment/enhancement but unlike you, Pat, happy with the rounding off with a bit of a Keatsian flourish. Bill > On 14 Aug 2014, at 1:48 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > AH, but Max, your ‘beauty’ comes on the heels of a bunch of such terms, which as they pile up become somewhat concrete, it feels, that being the mystery of language at work. And I really enjoy the sly pseudo-self-deprecation at work in the poem, its humour… > > Doug > > >> On Aug 13, 2014, at 4:35 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >> Pupils >> >> The woman at the opticians, >> who takes me into her dark room >> for intimate transactions, >> is exquisite - fine-featured, >> >> slow to smile, elegant of hand >> and hip. She shines her light >> and herself deep into my eyes. >> saying ‘you have small pupils’! >> >> (My lack of success with women >> explained by yet another reason!) >> I begin a sly campaign >> to survey her pupils’ fluctuation - >> >> now large in the dark, now less >> in the well-lit corridor, smallest >> out in the public space where frames >> are chosen at great expense >> >> to enhance one's chances >> of glamorous enchantment. >> She’s put on spectacles herself, >> as if her looks need some enhancement. >> >> Fair girl, unframed is best. Fair >> young men, fair children - smile on. >> Our eyes are all on you, as yours >> are on each other. We were young once, >> >> though scarcely knew it. Old now, leaning >> back - yearning back - at our sunset hour >> it dawns on us: Beauty is youth, youth >> beauty, - that is all we know on earth. > > Douglas Barbour > [log in to unmask] > > Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress). > Recording Dates (Rubicon Press). > > Something else is out there > godamnit > > And I want to hear it > > C.D.Wright >