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| Lilacs in a Window (Mary Cassatt, c. 1880-1883) |
Amorance
Lilacs are often considered to symbolize first love.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syringa)
Brittle scattered heart-shaped leaves glissade
across the crusted snow, on days as thin
as twigs, and nights when dreams wind back to then.
Every dormant, overwintering bud,
defending future flowers, future seed
with overlapping scales of mauve and green
and ancient symmetries of fixed design
confronts the cold in armored certitude.
However, God may choose, next spring, to scatter
frost like ashes, and the snow like wool
and kill each blooming lilac panicle.
My January dreams are stinging, bitter.
Though we were brave, by force of circumstance,
Love of my Youth, we didn’t stand a chance.
