Elaine, Ethereal---a poem by stephen richard eng

Elaine, Ethereal

(for Marge B. Simon)

I glimpsed you strolling as you always used to do,

Graceful as a playful breeze

On the knoll alive with lilies, yesterday.

You wore that tailored shirt of sailor-blue,

Tattered jeans above your knees

And your dust-gold hair in sunny disarray.

Erotic wraith, I know you’ve been untrue!

Death’s the lover whom you please.

He seduced you, pretty phantom—pallid, fey,

In denim-blue and sunlit gold.  And I feel grey

As your marker, where I kneel and pray.

09-10-82

*