Sisyphet
on the filming of Marlene Dietrich


O my darling Sisyphet,
Von Sternberg sends you down again,
down the opal stairway.

The lighting hides your nose
and your pale skin glows.

Once more you descend
in plumes of purple feathers
amid the marveling crew.

The lighting hides your nose
and your pale skin glows.

Men believed that Joshua
hid somewhere in your thighs:
they heard his golden horn.

The lighting hides your nose
and your pale skin glows.

I will never see the purple
or the gold, or the rouge,
my Darling, ghostly gray.

The lighting hides your nose
and your pale skin glows.


Donald Zirilli
1992