This poem is taken from PN Review 36, Volume 10 Number 4, March - April 1984.
Effacements
The steady cedars levelling the shade
Bend in the waters of each diamond pane.
Furred cusp and sill: other effacements made
Where the armorial glass in bronze and grain
Stiffens a lily on the clouded sun.
The lozenge hatchments of the porch floor run
Far out to grass. The grave Palladians
Have gone to seed, long genealogies
Dissolve beneath their wet and gentry stones;
The leaves lie shaken from the family trees.
As kneeling putti, children from the Hall
Are playing marbles on the mildewed wall.
The letters and the memoirs knew His will;
All Spring contracted to the one hushed room.
White swelling grew, he passed the cup, lay still;
To the bed's foot she saw the dark spades come.
...
Bend in the waters of each diamond pane.
Furred cusp and sill: other effacements made
Where the armorial glass in bronze and grain
Stiffens a lily on the clouded sun.
The lozenge hatchments of the porch floor run
Far out to grass. The grave Palladians
Have gone to seed, long genealogies
Dissolve beneath their wet and gentry stones;
The leaves lie shaken from the family trees.
As kneeling putti, children from the Hall
Are playing marbles on the mildewed wall.
The letters and the memoirs knew His will;
All Spring contracted to the one hushed room.
White swelling grew, he passed the cup, lay still;
To the bed's foot she saw the dark spades come.
...
The page you have requested is restricted to subscribers only. Please enter your username and password and click on 'Continue'.
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to enjoy the 285 issues containing over 11,500 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to enjoy the 285 issues containing over 11,500 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?