Theseus Before the Minotaur

Elusive one, unseen, unheard, unfelt,

deep in this labyrinth I seek your face,

deeper, this central cell where long you've dwelt,

drunk seven's yearly blood, no trace of grace.

Why have you fled her thread? why slink this maze?

Through double-backs and false-turns I have come.

I yearn to know, to sway or slay, to gaze.

Are your eyes blind, ears deaf? Is your mouth dumb?

My torchlight fades. In darkness now I wait,

supine, my sword thrown down, in silence stare.

Would your face crown my joy or seal my fate?

My thought's all fret, half-poetry is my prayer.

Whisper one word and fair or foul I'll climb;

restore these club-foot feet, my sonnet's rhyme.