Daily Sip - Prothalamium

Come, all you who are not satisfied
as ruler in a lone, wallpapered room
full of mute birds, and flowers that falsely bloom,
and closets choked with dreams that long ago died!

Come, let us sweep the old streets---like a bride:
sweep out dead leaves with a relentless broom;
prepare for Spring, as though he were our groom
for whose light footsteps eagerly we bide.

We'll sweep out shadows, where the rats long fed;
sweep out our shame---and in its place we'll make
a bower for love, a splendid marriage-bed
fragrant with flowers aquiver for the Spring.
And when he comes, our murdered dreams shall wake;
and when he comes, all the mute birds shall sing.

-Aaron Kramer
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* A Prothalamium is a song in celebration of a wedding.

I found this poem at the beginning of the book I'm reading. The book is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, and it's about coyotes and farming and moth love and toadstools and park rangers and chestnut trees in the hidden hollows of the Appalachians. Lovely and lush.

Pro-thuh-LAY-me-um!

I looked it up.

I also like the rhyme scheme. It's subtle, but present enough to give it a put-together feel.

Edit from Britt: This post was from Sib.