Howard F. Stein’s most recent poem to appear here was “Prize Song, After Wagner” (February 2018). 

Arithmetic
By Howard F. Stein  

Desire entwined
in lovers’ bodies,
seeking, reaching,
at last touching,
passion no matter
of simple addition—
one plus one equals two;
but alchemy of yearning,
where two transmutes into one,
swelling in Wagnerian sonorities,
cosmic consummation and release
in soak-filled exhaustion,
then gentle sleep—
until the one awake
again as two.