In the Celtic Twilight
by Marly Youmans
Could I forget with you in pain and far
Away from me? Oh yes, I did forget—
The forest of undying dreams murmured
My name in water, let it drift with weed,
And so I slipped across the field and past
The stone that marks the farthest edge of us:
And there I gathered snowdrops in the snow
And wove the stems into a winter’s crown—
I plucked and twisted starlight in my hair
Because I had a longing thought for one
Who liked to see that brilliance on my head,
And that was all the reason I forgot.
And so I ran with men in winter’s brown
And held my love beneath the April moon,
And did so much I cannot tell—or not
To you, dear mother, for some words belong
To only two. Yet I remembered you
Just when his arms went tight around my waist:
I made the prayer I promised, just like that!
For I remembered God beyond the worlds—
And how the priest said all the hours are one.
I prayed for your ordeal already past,
For hours go flying in my sweetheart’s arms
And time and love are strange as any thing.