A Time of Colonels

Sappho falls off Lefkada's cliffs
Greek colonels falling with her,
fawn creases fading up the buttocks,
the polished boots descending.
When the waves close over
Sappho lives on, fragmentary
scribbles of a feminist suicide.
The colonels dissolve into tortures.
The sea looks angrily, us
staring down from the heights.
We are totally baffled:
"Colonels?  Sappho?
Look, we're just standing here."