The Turret of the Sultan: A Collection of Poems and Plays

By Roberto Victor Illa

This book contains a collection of poems and plays written by Roberto Victor Illa. Roberto has a love of literature, science and history that is central to his life and identity and has written these works to share his passion with you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 11, 2007
• ISBN: 9781465315809

Roberto Victor Illa

Born May 29th, 1945 in Kingston, Jamaica. Attended elementary school in New York City. Secondary school: Jamaica College in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. He earned his A.B. (1967) and M.D. (1971) degrees from Stanford University. Board certified in Internal Medicine in 1976. Began writing poetry at 12 years of age.

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Copyright © 2008 by Roberto Victor Illa.

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Contents

Poems in English

Andalusia

Audition

Cookie Dough

Drought

Enchanted

French Kiss

Had I a Song to Win Thee

Hesitation

If All Men

If I Am to Win You, I Must . . .

Lamb of God

Priceless Treasure

Shogun

Sonnet for the Feminist

Sonnet for the Student

Stone Serpent

Sweet Lady Recompense

The Garden of Eden

The Gold Standard

The Pope of Manhood

The Scoundrel

Thoughtless Words

Uncertainty

Unwept Tears

Your Voice

Plays in English

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

HISTORICAL NOTES

SOURCES

THE ENCHANTMENT OF THE MOOR

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

PROLOGUE

Poems in Spanish

Polvo De Los Cometas

Es Tiempo

Solo Tú Puedes Curarme

El Jardín del Edén

Colmo de la Locura

El Hereje

El Papa de los Soñadores

La Verdadera

La Boda

Cuchicheos de Revolución

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night has flung

the Stone that puts the Stars to flight:

And Lo! the hunter of the East has caught

The Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light.

—The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Poems in English

PICT0676.JPG

Andalusia

Come and feel the rhythm of my poetry

Oh noble woman of voice divine.

And by the magic of a conceit sublime

I will transport our souls back to Araby

To hear the verse of Umar Khayyami

And escape the vapid customs of our time.

Come let me touch thy cheek and breasts

And incline toward me thine pretty ear

For I will all religious faith forswear

To praise thy charms present and manifest

That do enslave me, I confess,

For I live each day thy voice to hear.

Come into my life, so seldom happy.

And lift me from my present state.

My will to live you can resuscitate.

Hope and faith in Jesus and the sham Trinity

Used to keep me from insight’s lunacy,

But wisdom’s gloom did my heart o’ertake.

Come my shapely alchemist of pleasure

With pretty fingers and perfect lips

Place me in the crucible ’twixt thy hips

There heat and turn me at your leisure

So I may remember this time with you forever,

Whose alembic all other sense doth eclipse.

Come sip my wine and abandon prayer.

In reality or fancy let us steal away.

In old Cordova or Seville we will stay.

Embracing we will harken to a Moorish air.

For only in thy arms do I forget Despair

And see fountains and gardens far away.

8/23/2000

Audition

Today I was surprised by solitude,

With discomfort have I sensed it before,

And fled the silent moments,

Seeking to plunge my head

Between the breasts of peasant women,

Until the time had passed.

But today, it brought me peace,

And thoughts of you.

Your presence imbues my world

With meaning and promises

Seen only by children

And those in love

For the first time.

I feel ripened

And offer you the fruit

Of my torment and conquests.

My flavor, once bitter,

Is now sweet.

Mellowed with the warmth

Of many lovers

And a friend for every season

Of my life.

My soul is like a fine guitar

Dissonant to the novices

Of my past,

Awaiting the sweet harmony

Which your soft fingers

Can pluck from me.

Must I play the farce

For much longer?

Or can I fill your stage

With the brilliance of my art?

I would forego the applause of many

If I could capture your gaze

And find success in your embrace.

4/13/1975

Revised 9/2/1991

Cookie Dough

I thought I could mold him, after all,

He smelled like cookie dough, was small,

And sweet, and would surely be the paragon

To heal the hurt of a childhood gone wrong.

He had my name, and the plan was clear,

He’d grow like me with each year.

But with his mother’s leaving I lost control

Of the little creation I would unfold.

Despite my absence, scarcity, and strife,

He has emerged a most wondrous life,

That only gradually have I come to see

Is vastly better than an imitation of me.

He has a ready smile in any circumstance,

Humor, patience and great diligence,

Deep love of nature, our democracy,

And a radiant and magnetic personality.

My cookie dough child had another baker

Who conspired with the universe’s Maker

To remove the bitterness in my recipe

And add a mother’s love and constancy.

The crowning glory of this human confection

Lies in the wisdom of his selection

Of this beautiful bride we all love so

To bake his cookies and share his dough.

Life makes no promise that we will find

Happiness or true love in our brief time.

But such great fortune we here do witness

For my sweet son and his mistress.

9/27/97

PICT0691.JPG

Drought

I am as the grass without the rain,

Immobile in the earth, my sight to heaven,

Tortured by cruel Solitude again,

Waiting for God’s mercy or explanation,

Weak from the waiting and the pain.

For the state of my troubled spirit

Might be likened to a flower without sun.

And in the absence of your light

Dark thoughts like molds and mushrooms

Sap the joy from my life quite.

I know the obstacles that prevent you

From being here by my side.

And certain you’re not inclined to chatter

It is fortunate that the love between us

Defies both space and matter.

But Life is dim without your radiance

The warmth of your lovely smile,

And the tenderness of your touch.

And as every star-crossed lover

Darling, I miss you, oh so much!

12/21/01

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Enchanted

My soul was taken prisoner

At our first meeting.

My life’s quest ended

As we made polite conversation

With great effort I maintained

The appearance of detachment.

My days are filled with thoughts of you

And even though your image fades

Remembrance of you

Sweetly tortures my nights.

Today before dawn I surrendered,

Aching and exhausted I must confess.

How can this be?

The proud and sagacious warrior

Well armored, ruled by Logic

And pitiless Experience

Falling to his knees before

The Exquisite Stranger.

Your gaze has confounded my reason

And sapped my strength.

I am blinded to the danger

Of your sharp defenses,

But I hope for mercy

And restoration in your touch.

11/21/91

Revised 6/19/96

French Kiss

You may avoid me

But I have you already

Held tight and tenderly

In my imagination

Through the loneliness

Of these chilly nights.

Come away with me,

And with your embrace

Make me feel again

All the good things

That our lives have been

Without for too long.

My heart and my manhood

Vibrate in your presence

Like a tree shaken in a storm.

This tempest in me you can calm

With an endless kiss,

That will make me thirst for more.

12/24/03

PICT101.JPG

Had I a Song to Win Thee

My Darling, had I a song to win thee,

I would sing it when I was sad.

And surely it would cheer me.

And if sweet music could win thy heart,

Then in its notes would be

Tones mystic to make thee glad,

And desire fervent that we never part.

Had I a poem to charm thee,

In its rhyme and meter it would hide

The wisdom of human history

And all the love that thou couldst abide.

My devotion would fill infinity.

Or suffice to keep thee by my side

For the delight and comfort thou dost provide.

Had I a dance to tempt thee,

I would hold thee in my arms

And dazzle thee with steps and turns,

Until thy resistance fell like a castle walled.

From my love’s assault do not flee,

For I long to surfeit in all your charms

And enter thee triumphant and enthralled.

3/10/2000

Hesitation

These trying times do test us.

I wonder, as you must too,

If my commitment is need only.

How could such love be true?

Our judgments are but human,

But Doubt may have grave cost.

As Time goes by so quickly,

Sweet Opportunity can be lost.

In your cautious hesitation

You may imagine that I am not

Desirous of your happiness,

With all the strength I’ve got.

Doubt that I value your opinion?

And love you more than life?

Then, dearest, you are dreaming,

For truly I want you for my wife.

12/22/01

If All Men

If all men could know such love,

Like that you gave to me

Even for an hour of their lives,

Then Peace would reign on earth

And Truth should rule, not lies.

Enfolded in your arms so safe

You did cast a spell on time itself;

It slowed by virtue of your grace.

And I knew joy looking in your face

For how can Melancholy abide

In the embrace of such women

Whose endless wit and charm

Exceeds all spoken praise?

Uplifted above all earthly harm,

And in passion’s heat, held tender,

We do confess our love and kiss

The lips of she who we adore.

And thus is set aright all amiss.

I see the thorns that may prick

My hand if I too eagerly do grasp,

As this rose will exact a price

That may sap or take my life.

But my life is forfeit in this game

And at any time the duelist,

Who never fails, may call me out.

So, while she is I’ll love through pain

Until my heart she does not doubt.

4/19/05

PICT0684.JPG

If I Am to Win You, I Must . . .

If I am to win you I must transmit my essence

To you in lines of energy that span the globe.

For between us is placed half a world’s distance.

And, as if by magic, I must materialize my soul

Before your noble and comely countenance.

I am, as yet, a formless spirit and part mystery.

I send thoughts in pursuit of your imagination.

But it is through your faith only that you can see

That which betokens fulfillment and elation,

The forbearing love for you that shines in me.

Had I fine parchment white before me laid

And the hand of an artist or ancient scribe

I would script floridly all my heart has said.

This elegant letter for you only would confide

The tender thoughts that daily fill my head.

I know I must speak quickly and with grace.

Do you note of late how swift will pass a year?

Sadly, Time will not respect thy lovely face.

Though your sweet ways will not disappear,

Nor will the dear bond between us dissipate.

This did Our