SARCOPHAGUS OF THE SPOUSES

(Inspired by “Sarcophagus of the Spouses,” Etruscan, 6th c. BC.)

Here, before them, what I feel most has no name.
Their Etruscan dialect of the heart long dead

they simply smile, supine, sublime, tenderly
recline on that eternal bed, as in life I imagine.

The husband’s protective gesture
a wife’s nurturing contentment.

Love, that ancient tongue, needs no Tuscan glyph
or time transfigured stone to explain desire, body

within body. Only the upward glint of your morning
smile makes clear our eternal Etruscan love.