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Notes for Oscar Wilde at San Miniato
- Wesleyan University Press
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Notes for Oscar Wilde at San Miniato 1. These wings of dear flame (like dying fires, Like vanishing wakes, The lost light Down there—the river?—grotesque, . . . 2. Florenee: a vortex, a mouth, Vertiginous hive . . . Nocturne Florence, verticillate throat, A hiss of enfolding wings, The tortuous river enflamed, The water like scales in the fire's flare . . . 3. The fire's wings, the cries, The long wakes of ever-diminishing light; Below, grotesque and wide, the river Flashes and burns like a snake; The sudden faces of thieves, their laughter; I stand, on San Miniato's steps, Between two cypress, two wicks, Two guttered and useless flames . . . —After Dino Campcma 32 ...