Terzanelle in Thunderweather & Others

"A winter's thunder's a summer's wonder."

This is the moment when the shadows gather
Under the elms, the cornices and eaves.
This is the silent heart of thunderweather.

The birds are quiet now among the leaves
Where wind stutters, then moves steadily
Under the elms, the cornices and eaves -

These are our voices speaking guardedly
About the sky, about the sheets of lightning
Where wind stutters, then moves steadily

Into our lungs, across our lips, tightening
Our throats. Our eyes speak in the dark
About the sky, about the sheets of lightning

Illuminating moments. In the stark
Shades that we inhabit there are no words
For our throats. Our eyes speak in the dark

Of things we cannot say, cannot ignore.
This is the moment when the shadows gather,
Shades that we inhabit. There are no words -
This is the silent heart of thunderweather.

Original publication: Modern Poetry Studies, iii:5, 1973.
Included in The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court 1953-2004, Scottsdale: Star Cloud Press, 2004. (www.StarCloudPress.com).

TERZANELLE

The wind's a huckster whose breath blows
Tongues and voices, voices and tongues
Out of a sack of echoes.

He barters nothing. From his lung
The spiel of time unwinds and knots
Tongues and voices, voices and tongues.

Skeins of rumor in cosmic lots
Ravel the air like the yarns they are.
The spiel of time unwinds and knots

A song of silence from star to star.
The spider's rope and the night's thread
Ravel the air. Like the yarns they are,

Words turn to tangles as they are said.
Watch the mountebank at his trading
The spider's rope and the night's thread,

Darkness his stock and his bill of lading.
Watch the mountebank at his trading:
The wind's a huckster whose breath blows
Out of a sack of echoes.

Original publication: Michigan Quarterly Review, iv:3, July 1965. Included in The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court 1953-2004, Scottsdale: Star Cloud Press, 2004 (www.StarCloudPress.com).

TERZANELLE OF THIS ROOM OF HOURS
"The March sun causeth dust, and the wind blows it about."

There is a room, and in that room hourdust
Lies smothering the chairs, the rugs and couches
Where no one sits, where the radiators rust,

Thinking of steam. The chill of evening slouches
In the corner shadows where wallpaper peels in waves,
Lies smothering the chairs, the rugs and couches.

Nothing is certain here. The twilight saves
The day in ripples that fall through windowpanes
On the corner shadows where wallpaper peels in waves,

Sounding the silent combers. Everything stains
Everything, is nothing but what it is.
The day, in ripples that fall through windowpanes,

Washes the floor and fades. Now, in this
Heartbeat preceding night, the room is still
Everything, is nothing but what it is:

The raveling of mildew upon a sill;
Heartbeat preceding night. The room is still
Where no one sits, where the radiators rust.
There is a room, and in that room, our dust.

Original publication: Poetry Miscellany, 8, 1978. Included in The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court 1953-2004, Scottsdale: Star Cloud Press, 2004. (www.StarCloudPress.com).

TERZANELLE OF THE SPIDER'S WEB
"You must spoil before you spin."

The spider spins her web across the pane.
Beneath her in the dusk the room is still.
Upon the glass the hours have left their stain,

And darkness seeps down on the windowsill.
At last she finishes her silent weaving;
Behind her in the dusk the room is still

Accumulating echoes of the evening -
They fill the corners, spread across the floor.
She finishes at last her silent weaving

And then awaits the trembling at her door.
The shadows wait as well - they swell and grow;
They fill the corners, spread across the floor.

Time drifts. The room is netted in its flow.
The spider rides upon the darkening tide,
And the shadows wait as well - they swell and grow.

The room and all things in it will abide.
Upon the glass the hours have left their stain.
The spider rides upon the darkening tide,
For she has spun her web across the pane.

Original publication: Southern Review, xxvi:1, January 1990. Included in The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court 1953-2004, Scottsdale: Star Cloud Press, 2004. (www.StarCloudPress.com).