Sea and Mountain, Body and Mind

I. sharp love / ἔρως ὀξύτατος

as circles move through the grit of sensation
what is within dissolved
mimicking blood, mirroring life
the image of the mixing-bowl
Hekate’s retinue of meandering spirits
the root of all quenchless desire
a growth that blooms, that sheds
a red rose within the walled garden
we hide from ourselves unspeaking
shame nailing us, shackling us

II. urgent love / ἔρως ὀξύτατος

each page beneath these fingertips,
their sharp edges teasing dry skin.
raw erōs active within, its pulses
starlit landscapes: alight, vast, hungry.
intangibly keen, this feeling at its core
a mountain-peak altar embering traces of
fragrant sacrifices at the meeting-point:
a body of stone bereft of even trees,
appetition quenched to cold illumination,
yet even here remains breath and bone.

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Inspired by an endnote in Proclus’ On Providence about the term “sharp love,” which I then looked up in the Laws Book 6 (783a) to figure out what the term actually was. I don’t know how adjective endings are constructed in Ancient Greek, but ὀξύτατος is in the superlative (sharpest, most urgent/pressing) construction, and it seemed best to keep it that way, so be aware of that dissonance in the bolded headings.