ALL MY DEAR DEAD
There were leopards blowing down the mountain,
I and the sky and the autumn
And the azure and the crimson;
It
was a day for wonders.
There were tree crowns marching by the million
Prisons were suddenly tumbled
(I and my bleeding shadow)
Tag-ends of dreams were banished
Seraphim in branches thundered
(I carrying my loveload
I and my yesterdays)
When the whole gold presence blazed.
Then all my dear dead arose and vanished
They were free of my jailer heart,
A kite string strained, I loosed it into sun-moted heaven-
They were gone, they belonged to themselves; at last we had parted;
Light as milkweed silk they blew on their separate ways,
(It
was a day for wonders)
In
the harvest flame, through the translucent haze.
Lenore G. Marshall
