Howard Firkin
And Mars replies without words. Mars replies
with other weapons: lips and teeth and tongue,
and Venus gasps her words through lips kiss stung
and wet with him, "Don’t talk to me of lies,
believe, and leave me nothing more to find."
And Mars is soaring red and flaming through
an ink black sky to find that evening star,
to find the brightest light, to be as Gods are,
to feel the spasm of the one of two,
to fight his way into the heart’s own mind.

And to remain with her. His dream: conquest.
To fight is not to win. His mind is war.
To love is never to be found at rest,
and Venus smiles, and Venus will have more…