AMORANCE

 

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.