Rapunzel's Teenage Love Affair

Combing her hair, the mermaid sings
A song of love for him who waits;
The dying phoenix spreads its wings
And flies towards the golden gates.

The young man watches by the tower,
Dreams of ladders, of ascent;
An angel in the violet hour,
Longing for the innocent.

A book lies open on her knee,
No nightingale's lament therein.
Outside, a bird sings in a tree;
The rouge of autumn leaves grows thin.

And afternoons grow shorter yet
Measured out in poetry -
The lady on the parapet
Forgets her book and pours the tea.

Painting her nails in purple hue
She thinking of last night's fumbling.
From the tower the unseen view
Remains, as the nightingale fails to sing.