Penelope gives him a rose, complex
as the act, quartered, richly perfumed, magenta
petal crammed on velvet petal, centre
stamen-gold. Such old-fashioned, reflexed
blooms mean this to them: grande luxe, hotels
champagne, silk underwear and sheets, Chanel,
sensual extravagance. Leaves flex,
yielding to wind, as eyelashes or limbs
close shutters, turn back sheets, receive a lover
move in ecstasy. He will uncover
its secrets by revealing his, and hymns
afternoons of sex, evokes the scent
of Isle de France coquettes, of passion spent
on beds that stretch far beyond the world’s rim.