Erasing All Trace of Elaine---a poem by stephen richard eng

Erasing All Trace of Elaine

It’s true, I have forgotten you, Elaine,

Utterly, as leaves when leaving summer trees

Die unremembering, as they coast along the breeze

Toward autumn ground.  No souvenirs remain.

Blurred images efface and fade.  I cannot see your plain

White dress, bedecked with flowered fineries:

Poppies…yellow, orange, with Death-dark centers.  Please

Believe my love’s dissolved, drowned in Fall’s grey rain.

Through dimming years I’ll rarely, any more

View you in my imaginings.  Your summer-tinted hair

Of golden tawn recedes.  My lust cannot recall

Your criminally-carnal figure, or

Your rose-flushed mouth.  Romance lies in Death’s lair.

In winter’s pall, I have forgotten all.

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