Thursday, March 14, 2024

Debussy's Clair de Lune

 













I met you in the pale spring afternoon.

I met you on the veranda in March.

Your eyes spoke of small buds and the new lambs,

you brought me a copy of Tennyson.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

Your hands caressed my hands—all their detail,

as your whole life touched my too-broken life,

as daffodils shout their golden rims bright,

while the leather Daphne fragranced my dreams.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

I was diminutive and shy, solemn,

draped in a rocking chair in the sweeping

of terra cotta, morning across cloud,

from sunrise creeping over the mountain,

from the alabaster blossoms weeping,

stealing across the lawn like fingers proud.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

When, in my accent Cape Cod dress, I sit

on evening’s veranda, ivory moon,

a crescent, hangs before the flight of loons,

my soul, in lamb’s soft wool, knits lanolin.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

Iris garden, in quiet pen sketches,

snowdrops, undecorated. . . dreamy hues

kneel on the cobblestones, and worship you

like the early sun, dawn’s gentle stirrings.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

As milky salve, I collect lavender;

cluster by cluster, I peel hyacinth,

crushed within marble mortar with pestle,

for potpourri, with old rose petals, pearls

from a turtle dove. Rain, pattering, rinsed

lilacs, just in time for the tea kettle.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

Ironing doilies by my beeswax’s crest

of candlelight, cotton wick tight-woven.

The night is still-young and at peace, coven

of cottage-core unmarred  as a white dress.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

Ladened by metal sadiron, I pray,

I press on and on into the spring eve.

By the light of my one candle, I weave

the iron to the pianoforte.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.

 

To Clair de Lune, there’s no distraction now,  

the quarter notes come in blackened whispers.

Melody rises and falls, in this town.

’Fore the day is over you have my vow,

while the small cat preens translucent whiskers,

you will see me in my cream wedding gown.

When you will have loved, then you will have lived.


Emily Isaacson


*This poem is not in a formal sonnet form, but has modified Italian sonnet rhyme schemes and sonnet quatrains with a repeting line.