A death and a marriage in one day
I put on a huge black hat
which looks out of place as if
I’m in fin de siècle Paris
leaning on a white tablecloth.
All those black and white stripes surely
hinted at unconcealable death
all those fixed eyes and despairing smiles
grown dark in watchful corners.
All those vows and then no vow left
but a life making one long joined
vow of everything, complete and incomplete
all those hats and flowers.
Elizabeth Smither