Explain, Lydia, by all

That is fair and just, why you destroy Sybaris

    with love; why he, a man

who lives for sun and sand, avoids the playing tracks.

    Why is he seen no more

With his equals in pride, on a Howqua stallion,

    reining in with sharp bites?

What makes him afraid of his thirty laps. Why does he

    shun massage oil

As if it were taipan venom and no longer shows bruises

    on limbs, who pulled weights

And could spearhead shots further than anyone alive?

    Why does he sulk

Like some famous wimp before his major encounter, afraid

    to be seen in his right colours

Less it mean being forced to face facts

                            and take the heat?