Elevator

Beauty is momentary in the mind--
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.

A literary convention -- the Ark story
wherein people of various ilk are, by some calamity,
thrown together. You've seen the movie-- airliner
down in the Himalayas, passengers adrift in a lifeboat
after their ship-- The Ship of Fools?-- goes down

This is the building of doctors.
I ride the elevator among the afflicted
Our ark-- this car in its narrow trajectory of
down and up. Descending now. Floor 12. Doors open.
A woman steps in, stands sideways to the door, thereby
observed in profile. Rarely seen such quality of
beauty and elegance. I attempt no description
Does it matter if she's dark or fair, eyes hazel, blue,
whatever? Just take my word. All right, she wears
dove gray. Tall and noble as a caryatid.

O, girl of Caryae

An air of tranquility descends over us. We are
entranced, serene, a congregation silently attentive,
in mutual comprehension.

Street Level. Doors open. We adjourn,
drift out into the downtown rush.
Moments are momentary, the memory, less so.

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

The epigraph is from Wallace Stevens' "Peter Quince at the Clavier."

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