Joan Benner
Stll Life
A while ago, passing your house in summer,
I saw flowers; and that is what I recall
Now. Strange that I should remember
Only such transient colour. On the wall
A creeper you might have planted, it's true, but time
Passes, leaves fill, and the petunia fades
In the hanging basket. Nothing here your eye-beam
Met to reflect back to me, nothing that threads
Past and present together.
Except that you
Once lived there, and, like those petals, stood self-content
In empty-handed moments; that you knew
The quiet heart's continuance, unspent,
And, at your ease, like rainbows could declare
Time has a stop: a pause upon the stair.
I saw flowers; and that is what I recall
Now. Strange that I should remember
Only such transient colour. On the wall
A creeper you might have planted, it's true, but time
Passes, leaves fill, and the petunia fades
In the hanging basket. Nothing here your eye-beam
Met to reflect back to me, nothing that threads
Past and present together.
Except that you
Once lived there, and, like those petals, stood self-content
In empty-handed moments; that you knew
The quiet heart's continuance, unspent,
And, at your ease, like rainbows could declare
Time has a stop: a pause upon the stair.
Page(s) 3
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