Mark A. Murphy has published poems in Poetry New Zealand, Poetry Scotland, The Warwick Review (UK), The Paris Atlantic Journal (France), Poetry Salzburg Review (Austria), Istanbul Literature Review (Turkey), Del Sol Review (US), Tampa Review (US) and The Stinging Fly (Eire).
Summer 2009
Table of Contents - Vol. V, No. 2
Poetry Essays Translations Fiction
Mark A. Murphy
Applaud the lovers,
who have no worldly riches to bestow,
who climb the attic stairs
with only their bodies to give,
where the bed,
a soiled mattress on the floor awaits them --
their torsos bathed in moonlight,
the night air at their backs.
Their time under the stars
reason enough to fall
headlong into each other’s desires --
not for them the sweet talk of posterity,
nor the bitter talk of betrayal.
Applaud the lovers, dumb before God
and holy man,
with only their youth to live for.
© Mark A. Murphy
