TO HIS LOVE
He’s gone, and all our plans
Are useless indeed.
We’ll walk no more on Cotswold
Where the sheep feed
Quietly and take no heed.
His body that was so quick
It not as you
Knew it, on Severn River
Under the blue
Driving our small boat through.
You would not know him now…
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With violets of pride
Purple from Severn side.
Cover him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of memoried flowers
Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forget.
(Ivor Guerney)
~~~
~~~
VISITATIONS
DEATH come to me in my dreams:
A little girl in her first party dress,
a black balloon in her fist.
She smiles when she sees me –
an open smile of recognition.
She’s not afraid of me.
The little girl with the angel eyes
has come to take me home.
DEATH come to me in a nightmare:
Lucifer sits by my bed
to sedate me if I scream.
Drop by drop he dilutes my blood
until I’m totally transfused.
“Hush, hush, hush…don’t you cry!”
He scolds as he watches me
shrink into the counterpane.
DEATH come to me in my bed:
He’s brought flowers for the nightstand.
The linen is fresh and my nightgown sheer.
A bottle of good Rhine wine…
He’ll help me climb just as
I’ve helped him climb –
each of us in search of
our own little DEATH.
©Trina Roach
24 Carat Star Time 
Susan said,
February 22, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Tina–brava. I wonder if you know I’ve been reading Keats (of whom these themes & some phrasing remind me) quite a bit lately? Why you should, I cannot say. I’m taking the week off both blogs as I’ve lost so much time to snow & other inconveniences & need to recover. But I shall visit your FB page when I can.
xoxo
Susan said,
February 22, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Forgot to say that I like the new look of the blog…very nice…
caratime2 said,
February 24, 2010 at 11:10 am
@susan: I came across the Ivor Guerney (one of my favorites) while looking into a folder of my own older poetry and spontaneously decided to post both. I haven’t read my Keats in awhile. Maybe I’ll feel inspired once we begin unpacking all our books.
Yes, so rest from all the snow. I just heard, though, that they are expecting 3″ – 6″ in the Philadelphia area starting tonight. So much for global warming, I guess…
p.s.: We finally have a new house and the move begins on Saturday. I’ll be sending out a mail with my new contact information before then.