The Affair (Iseult's Sestina) (Sagittarius)


I

Others embellish, I tell the truth,

I will relate the facts of the affair,

Of his trip to New York, of the comet's flash,

Of me the princess escorted by Tristan the knight, 

Of the potion that once drunk made our fates entwined,

And led us after mishaps to a vine-entangled grave.


II

In the garden lay Tristan's grave,

Mark thought him dead, I knew the truth,

In marriage Mark and I were entwined,

I was true, innocent of any affair,

I was false, I wanted my vanished knight,  

I knew what I would do, I would blow my life up in a flash.


III

No detective would follow me, no camera would flash,

Once I told Mark no one lay in Tristan's false grave,

He would assume I was leaving him to join my knight,

I was not, I would tell him the truth, 

I could not stop loving Tristan, but I could stop our affair, 

Ensure that with my children only my life would be entwined.  


IV

That morning Mattie and Tina slept, raggedy curls entwined,

Mark was in a good mood, he asked me for a titty flash,

I told him I had to share with him news grave,

That I had to avow my heart's truth,

That I would never come back to him from my affair,

From my love for the California knight.


V

I told him I would never again be with the knight,

That with neither of them would I ever be entwined,

I told him the truth.

In his eyes there was a flash. 

Then he said to me in a voice grave,

This is the end of the affair.


VI

You chose not to have what you most want in the affair,

My friend Tristan, the gallant knight, 

I will make a choice equally grave,

Never more with Mattie and Tina will my life be entwined,

I will never see their faces with joy or anger flash,

Separation from them as well as you will be my truth.


Envoi

My bones lie with Tristan's on my left in a tomb vine-entwined,

Mark's lie on on my right, etched in his sword a lightning flash,

I hold their bony hands.  This is the truth.



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