("Because thy smile is primavera...")

THREE POEMS

I

Bring the pigeons watermelons, Abelard.

The order has cool philosophic purity.

This is not largesse but Roman nobility.

Bring the peacocks oranges.

Turn the philosophy to sensuousness.

Pallas Athene is Greek thereby.

But if we bring the watermelons pigeons?

If we bring the oranges peacocks?

Is that very difficult?

This would not be Greek nor Roman.

This would be purity without philosophy.

This would be artistry.

u

In Picasso you see Blue, Rose, and the

Virginity of Cubes. The sound of his colors

Is autumn. The melancholy of apricots

Hang like Chagall angels above each picture.

This man is Milton gay, very sad.

And though he paints no angels, the nudes

Are tragic like them. Very silent bells

Jos# GARCIA VILLA

Ring requiem. The cubes are cubes of grief.

But being virgins the cubes spring alert.

But the nudes are silent, being unvirgins.

It takes tenderness to perceive: for the colors,

The nudes, the cubes to afflict. Unless

One were versed in the tauromachy of art.

Then persuasion is instant: you lie fallen,

Victor, gripping great, very sad horns.

I

Because thy smile is primavera

A nude Botticelli: therefore

Do thou smile at me. Because

Thy neck is proud as honey

Dream of Modigliani-therefore

Do thou come queen to me.

And because thy feet are small

Though I bid thee run to me

O do thou not come at all

But let me run quick to thee!

José Garcia Villa

Structure

43 lines · 17 stanzas