George Kirazian Jr: To a Young Wife

Strict and dumb we are,
Like scholars on stools
Until you lift us from the pages,
And our dirge fancy,
Rhythmed by your eyes
Begins its shrill weave.

You enjoy our druidry;
And while the day slowly blends
Each of us leads you somewhere
Beyond the machine's monody --
Until with forced smile
You turn off the afternoon

To twist away through thickening streets
Toward quiet evening
And the soft hour when he
Gathers your choraling limbs into calm.



This poem has appeared in Ararat, Volum II, No 2, Spring 1961