![By Yianniskriti [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Falkonera_isl.jpg/320px-Falkonera_isl.jpg)
The very blue that wine is red
that is the very blue that wine is red
and with the same reflective luminosity.
You look out from your boat
(whether trireme or ferry)
and say “wine dark”, look, look, the wine dark sea!
Languages do die, and when you meet them in the dark
give them blood and greet them
in their own words.
Cats can be psychopomps, cats can be company,
they make tangled signifiers
of sphinxlike spinsterhood.
Cats among pigeonholes
or a piece of tangled weaving
would make him feel safe with you.
Words reach out and tear,
there is no way over
the wake of that dark water.
(For Sonya Taafe) 30th October 2010
