Re: The Maureen Trilogy: Light of Day"

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"Light of Day" is the second of three poems of mine I think of as the
"Maureen trilogy." There's a detailed explanation of the trilogy in the
thread devoted to the first poem in the trilogy, "Spring Again." There
is as yet no thread on the third, "Afterglow" but that will follow.
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Both "Spring Again" and "Afterglow" are sonnets, but for "Light of Day"
I wanted to use a different form. I wanted the poem to be about my
relationship with my wife back in our 20s, when everything was happy and
even ecstatic at times; and I wanted a form that fit that mood better, a
lyric of some kind. I also tried to strip out the other formalities
(like the initial caps) to give it a more casual, contemporary sound.
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Unlike "Spring Again" there's no deeper meaning; this was meant purely
as a lyric, an example of what Wordsworth would call "'the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings ,,, recollected in tranquility." That was
what I was trying to accomplish here. So, without further ado, the text.
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Light of Day
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The clouds of heaven roaming whitely by,
exotic beasts across a cyan sky,
black clouds stampeding on the ground – they rule
this sauna world – they dim but do not cool
     & as they pass it blows my mind:
     a silent symphony I find
     when shadows fold & drop away
     into the lemon light of day.
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The trees are fountaining: cascades of green
declare their beauty for my dear Maureen;
the green is falling, flooding all the ground,
a verdant sea in which I long to drown
     & as it falls, I want to cry
     to know that all of this will die,
     that everything must wash away
     beneath the liquid light of day.
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Her body fits me like a silken glove –
the sun is burning on my back with love –
past life sustains anew life, layer on layer,
while brass of birdsong blows throughout the air
     & as it blows thoughts pass my mind:
     this light outside is hers & mine
     for it will always be this way,
     right here, right now where we will stay
     within the living light of day.
>
~~
George J. Dance, 2014