CARNATION, LILY, LILY, ROSE (FINAL VERSION)

CARNATION, LILY, LILY, ROSE (FINAL VERSION)

[on the painting by John Singer Sargent]

we hold the lanterns in our gaze and they shall not go out

the lily, the rose, the lily rose shadows; their carnation

coolnesses, the children will not ravel

the edge of this twilight ever, softly they blossom

in the borders near the clumps of the flowers familiar to them

and the lanterns sway in the painting as if it were a real garden

and only slightly it is, the winds of the carnation, the lily, 

the rosied lilies partake of Dream and dreaming

the light, the light diminishing only lightly

we hold within our hearts within, within

equidistant from firefly as from star

there is nothing

like coloured paper lanterns swaying in the

purple sky remembered this cannot fade the purple shadows by

the painting kept alive

the lights go out or

the lanterns stir in the evening breeze when we depart 

instead let 

the carnation breeze be remembered, the beautiful the beautiful

weaving of lily and rose all before and after

shining, the summer light seeping from long ago, the childish laughter

glow worm gloss and

mysterious mosses, 

the self-same lanterns in our gaze wherever the painting goes

the night that will never fade

the distant song forever distant

time and the flowers at a standstill

the children, murmuring

mary angela douglas 19 february 2015 rev.11 june 2015; 23 january 2018; 16 november 2023 ;20 may 2024