In Corinth

After Romans 6

I sit in Corinth

this city of pluralisms city

of Roman soliders

gods and goddesses

a polyglot of polyglots

even my beloved ones

tangled in the spider webs

of polyglots

I write to you,

in the center, the center

of this world, this forum

of our world. I long to be

with you, longing

with a terrible fierceness.

I long to hold you, to feel

your faces between my hands.

I know you by scroll

I will know you with faces,

faces like grains of sand.

I will sit with you, breaking

bread. We will sit together,

breaking chains.

Painting: St. Paul, oil on canvas (1606) by El Greco; Museo del Greco, Toledo.