XVII

Sometimes I still see the light
filtering through the dining hall windows
and remember long hours of laughter
shared over brandy.
I remember my son, dapper in
a suit and tie
and how he wooed the women with
stories of glory
and battles on foreign shores
which I can still animate
in the colored glass of the windows.

I still see the china
punctual and pristine
stacked like the trunks of
trees
ring upon ring upon ring.
I know in my heart that they are yet
unbroken
-they, and the windows too
my soul knows they will be
as they were
for always and always more
until the Lady is forgotten.