By Joesph McLaughlin, Jr on his 51st wedding anniversary. (April 4, 2022)
Just as spring is putting on its mask,
The one that Edna* said, though beautiful,
Is not enough, except for April fools,
And just as we are throwing ours away,
The ones we hope to never wear again,
That kept us safe from coughs but not from war,
We cannot hide our eyes from suffering,
Reminded by the mask that’s on the screen
The greatest evils come not from without
But from within the hearts of men. And yet,
By night we cleave together and by day
You do small things for me and I for you.
Yoshino blooms reach skyward like a prayer,
And April has made fools of us again.
Philadelphia, 2022
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* Notes: “…The one that Edna said…”
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough;;;.
Not only underground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing…
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, .
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
From “Spring”, by Edna St. Vincent Millay