“Faint Refrain” by Karen Kelsay
by Patricia | 3.09.10Elizabeth Songstaffe, whose name
is inscribed in my gold-edged bible,
how was your life composed?
Did your pockets brim
with grace notes that scattered
like freckles on a shoulder?
Were you awkward
as a lonely clap, sounding after
a symphony’s first movement?
Born one hundred years ago,
your death was not recorded–
yet, I hear a faint refrain.
Did you once hum across prairies
on humid evenings, or lilt between bramble
and heather on mud-soaked moors?
Were you housebound, gazing through
leaded windows while landscapes
blurred into the sea?
I imagine you, a ballad of emotion,
deep with French horns, wistful violins
and whimpering flutes,
ascending quietly into a mysterious
finale, while the cadence of your life
slowly lowered into another accord.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Thanks, Karen, for posting this poem with WIZ.
It resonates for me because in our Internet business we send packages to bare names and addresses, many of which pique curiosity and-or spark imagination. I wonder who all these people are, living in places where I’ve never been.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Hi Patricia,
Thanks~ I saw this name at the history center one day, on a family tree, and thought it was really different and good poem material.