“Ode to Avis”
©Ellen P.
Beloved Avis, how richly has your life of love
impressed itself upon this heart of mine!
And with this ode I send thanks above
and call to mem’ry delightful labors of thine.
Take, for example, that rich, wafting scent
of baking goods that called stomachs, filled noses,
and so rich too, the hues your watercolors lent
to forever beautify quickly fading roses.
Also rich were the melodies together we’d hum,
girlishly, cheek to cheek and hand in hand,
that you never minded if I was Grandpa’s chum
because my heart held you both at my command.
And how rich, the meaning behind your words,
in poems and honest prayers, so well-writ!
as beautiful as beloved cardinal-birds
and as comforting as those afghans you knit.
Indeed, all the senses are engaged by a person so rich:
in eating sumptuous food, in noting painted art,
in snuggling under blankets and joining our pitch,
that I shall live all my years with you impressed
upon my heart!
Dedicated to my grandmother Avis, who passed away March 2011.
--Ellen P.
