By The Sea Poem by John Lars Zwerenz

BY THE SEA

There are long, circular stairs
In a mansion by the sea,
Where a duchess of regal chivalry
Walks down its Persians, dewy wet,
In an atmosphere of royal airs.

She leaves the grand foyer to wander in the squares,
Where the lively scent of mignonette
Surrounds the many ancient fountains
And the terracotta statuary,
Which hypnotizes as it gleams
By the many pristine, china blue streams,
Among a ring of emerald mountains.

And in one sleepy corner of the park,
She steps into her carriage
And sails into the shadows of the dark,
Born from a crimson silhouette.
Dreaming of a sacred marriage,
Her aristocratic state is of a pure coquette.

She wears a long, pearly dress,
With white, embroidered frills.
Her breasts posses the scent of blooming daffodils,
As she glides by the lakes and the glittering watercress.

The bowers of the summer sun
She passes slowly one by one,
Gazing at the tops of majestic trees.
The forest is made of symphonies,
As songbirds sing and sigh in the breeze.

Maples, lindens, the oaks and birch
Frame the wooden fane of an old, Catholic church
Where she pauses to kneel by a Marian shrine.

Her heart is of an angel's, and her mind is of cabalic wine.
She weeps as she prays, for her lover is far away at sea:
None other than the likes of me.

JOHN LARS ZWERENZ