Robert Graves: The Fires And Falcons of Desire

FIRE WALKER


To be near her is to be near the furnace.
Fortunate boy who could slip idly through,
Basket in hand, culling the red-gold blossom,
Then wander on, untaught that flowers are flame,
With no least smell of scorching on his clothes!
I, at a greater distance, charred to coal,
Earn her reproach for my temerity.




THE FALCON WOMAN


It is hard to be a man
Whose word is his bond
In love with such a woman,


When he builds on a promise
She lightly let fall
In carelessness of spirit.


The more sternly he asks her
To stand by that promise
The faster she flies.


But is it less hard
To be born such a woman
With wings like a falcon
And in carelessness of spirit
To love such a man?


--Robert Graves


Graves is always a good poet for the issues and the textures of desire.


Falcon women and falcon men--or half-falcon folks, even--make love and life harder on their partners and would-be partners.  Warning signs needed?  Would they be heeded, even?