ED: Not Short for "Eddie"

Do you remember when from 8 to 80s
all men were studs? When lovers wrote
sonnets to their adorees--

O, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to one's fine wit

Ah, such poetry. The spontaneity of engagement.

Amor, amour: it comes now in a pill
Take one with water. Wait for the rising
sildenfil, vardanafil, tadanafil.

and, not to forget, alprostadil, brand name MUSE ®--
Medicated Urethal System for Erection-- Ha! You thought
maybe Erato, daughter of Mnemosyne and Zeus?

And in my own love's strength, seem to decay?

Italian stallions buy pills by the millions.

The manufacturer of penile implants reports its business sagging.

And the African rhinoceros, long poached, endangered,
for the aphrodisiac potency of its horn, albeit
mythical, may yet be spared.

The doses are expensive. But what's ten bucks
when men will kill for sex?

*

I sit in the bakery at my accustomed place
near the window lazily dreaming
over a cup of coffee watching outside
young lovers on a bench
and the lady fussing behind
the counter, the proprietor, observing me
observing, and thinking, I suppose, that I'm
being more attentive than necessary, asks, You're
jealous? and I say, No, not really, only, I guess,
nostalgic for the ardor, trying to remember, trying
to remember.

..........................................Israel Lewis

Lines in italics from Shakespeare "Sonnet XXIII""

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