Carnation Lily Lily Rose
Carnation lily lily rose It's a game we recite. My sister's idea. Against the light which is falling, we have mother's garden, her lilies, so proud, the heads too heavy. They sway and their dust makes sister sneeze. And father cries from the veranda O Rose O Rose The daylight is crumbling like old marzipan What is the light - the pink of virgins the cream of evening warmth of bees almost abed, paper lanterns. The grasses sway high about our feet, soft, like skeins of velvet Carnation lily lily rose I can't tell anyone how it happened, the butcher's man, his brown paper package - Mother, whitethroated abandon softly falling, in slowmotion twilight a soft swish of fabrics the wall rainsoaked schist Then pale as a lantern in her bed, with its sheets all golden golden as a light from a bee which is broken Carnation lily lily rose Tell me the name of the man I'll love and I'll tell you where he goes Carnation lily lily rose ballroom with its French fresco paintings ordered from Paris, along with men to install it - four maidens smiling down - but no one dances. Carnation lily lily rose We wait to light lanterns, until bees are abed and the softest glow comes from the moon after the light has fled all that is left is a starched pinafore and the sighs and the signs that went before carnation lily lily rose Rosemarie Koch
If you've any comments on this poem, Rosemarie Koch would be pleased to hear from you.