The Duchess Poem by John Lars Zwerenz

What did I find in a snow-clad grove of pines,
More gilded than gold, beneath a bending, emerald bough,
Which brought an excess of joy, more than earth does allow,
More serene than a pond, more mellifluous than wines? -

Half-sleeping, upon a marble divan, swept by the wintry air,
I found a rosy-eyed duchess reclining in that scented, wooded land.
She possessed the gaze of a portrait graced by God's benevolent hand,
As breezes laced with mignonette touched her sacred, raven hair.

What did I find within the woolly softness of her greenish, watery, youthful stare?
A royal haven for a princely poet roving through a cold December.
She wore a ring from the House of David, and was clothed in the finest fur.
Then she gave me her hand to kiss. I knelt in the pearly snow, in that good, majestic air.
And we walked betrothed, like two leaves, lifted high upon a wondrous gale.
Ave Maria, gracia plena, and holy Catholic heaven, hail!