Nancy Dunlop

VARIATIONS ON A DOCTRINE OF LOVE

1.

To make less warm 
To make less ardent 
To become less warm 
To become calm

To make resplendent 
To throw as from a great height 
To condense and fall as rain or snow 
To condense and fall 
To be chemically separated 
To fall headlong

To catch fish in a net 
To gut or clean fish


2.

A cool blouse 
A piece of parchment 
A period of decline following growth and glory 
A large house 
A large heart

Great sorrow 
Great ocean liner


3.

The event of the daily disappearance of the sun 
The decline or final phase 
The wattle of a bird 
The underside of a mushroom 
Dissolved mineral content


4.

Designating blue and green 
Worn over loins and sometimes thighs 
Like amber, because amber produces sparks 
Marked by effortless grace

As rain or snow 
Moving heedlessly 
Rare and unrestrained


5.

Designating wind 
Yielding to pressure 
Easily touched 
Soft in the head 
As certain consonants 
Of fishes, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates

Every jack must have his gill