… this one by me.
Elegy
In Memory of Zelda
The aging princess presides
Over the ruin of the late king’s palace.
The dowager queen cannot help
But notice the walls give way,
The dust gather. The aging princess
Toasts her aging consort and complains.
Hounds bay among debris, the moon
Opaquely shines through soiled panes.
The dowager queen listens and wanly smiles.
“A driving rain may streak,” she thinks,
“But never cleanse the windows,
Whether of house or soul. All
Gives way, nothing being done.
Time was, the princess danced
Beneath a moon effulgent, not opaque,
And children gamboled on the lawn.
The children now are fled
To regions where auroras dance instead.
How it will end seems clearer
Than the windowpanes, though when
Remains obscure, as always.” The aging princess
Takes her aging consort by the hand
And leads him in a halting sarabande.
The royal cats cry out, extend their claws.
The dowager queen listens and wanly smiles.
