Mary

Mary
by John G. Stamos

To hold this ephemeral sigh, this diaphanous notion,

You, wistful moonlight on the crest of a wave...

Upon grim traversing embarks this sojourner,

Stricken, wracked, wretched mourner.

Unyielding ache turned upon desirous lathe.

Across darkening gulfs and evanescent spans,

A discordant yearning is impelled,

Toward an end manifest in the heart's endless toil

Over capricious loam; unattainable soil...

A seismic imperative never quelled?

What need now articulates this ruined armature,

Disjointed members unified?

The void at the core, the throbbing ceaseless measure,

A thunderous echo, silent and unrelieved censure,

At once this maelstrom, this languorous tide.

Now all fields converge, in tectonic order,

Reconstitution, gained.

By sonorous lodestone, drawn and gathered in gloaming,

The girding, with the earthen and shadow, of this archetypal forming,

And impressed upon a feral, waking dream, thus forever stained.

Only to hold you, my ephemeral sigh, my diaphanous notion,

Only you, my wistful moonlight... my truest heart...