Windy-spirited Soleil, girl of bright
Emerald eyes, flowing chestnut tresses,
Smooth satin complexion, dove-wing hands -
Endearing blitheness, her peals of laughter
Which peeled off the lower reaches of gray
Sky on dim days, allowed the sun to shine -
Wonderful Soleil, darling of darlings,
Lies coffin-encased, sealed off forever,
In cold, uncaring, colorless soil - autumn
Winds slap at its unresponsive surface
Before trailing off to die in lifeless
Leaf-piles, brittle remains of verdant green.

The wind may stir the leaf corpses to move
But not to life; nor shall sweet Soleil stir
Again - not one spine-caressing sparkle
Will spill from her eyes, no pleasing teasings
Will escape her lips - her wave-graceful lilt
Of a walk won't add to a meadow's cheer
Again, beauty won't shameface sneers again -
Nothing, not a shiver of a quiver,
Remains of lackadaisical Soleil.

Nothing?  I count not the vacated shell
Of her former self - the decaying husk.
No, that's not Soleil underground - her soul's
Not mouldering in a pine box, longing
For light, wedded to smothering darkness.

That thing down there is no more sweet Soleil
Than these wind-rattled tearings of fiber
Are the greenery that carpeted trees
Last summer, when my blithe beauty still smiled
At the slightest touch of my loving glance.

Copyright © 2002-2003 Robert Scott Leyse. All Rights Reserved. May not be re-printed in any form without express written consent of the author. Do not copy or post.