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~ Second Day of the Wedding ~
(Neighbors are invited. July, Long Island, 1809)
By Eva Maria Palevich *
An invitation fell
on the kitchen table.
Interruption of thoughts
Interruption of solitude;
pause, excitement - changing plans.
I gathered all, and tucked
them into my pocket.
So we arrived together
at the Mulford farm.
To commemorate a wedding party
in your honor, Phoebe Mulford
and groom's, Col. Samuel Miller
on a hot sensual day.
I paid my respects to
Rev. Lyman Beecher,
gave my word I had said
before attending, a prayer
After watching the prestidigitator
And trying some clam pies
I went down to the beach
you used to walk on, Phoebe
with your beloved,
being wooed - embraced -
Plovers whizzing about
(not yet an endangered specie)
Walt Whitman's sweat,
his revolutionizing poetry
his boot steps not yet
imprinted in the world, but
lilac's sweetest smell
you smelled like he did,
and I do,
Who will smell lilac's sweetest smell
In an other 200 years?
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| *This poem was brought to our attention this summer by Virginia Schwerin, a Member of the Board of Trustees. Maria Palevich was a guest at Ms Schwerin's house last summer, and wrote the poem after she attended the History Day with the wedding re-enactement. | | | |
