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The Wedding by Linda Munson Peth
The Wedding
This is where we meet, on this street, in this house of ghosts,
Ghost House, closed to the public,
not on view,
Not new, but renewed nightly.
You bought it sight unseen,
For me, for us, for the wedding.
Time collects in the attic and
below stairs.
This marriage is, and we are
dust, I maintain.
Amused, you turn to my explanation,
answering with a strange caress
That this wedding dress is cut
from the same cloth as all the others,
Very old lace.
Woven, we are wed in each other's
arms.
To go upstairs means that our
priest conducts the
Ceremony without ceremony,
Administering the sacraments
with every step we climb.
This time we've got it right,
have got the right.
You are cruel and very-violet-sweet.
Beneath us, under the bed, under
the sheets,
are the dead, dancing,
Forgetting that this is not
their house, their place yet.
There is certain perspicacity in these,
our ghosts,
Who will not let us pause, tangled
in our sweat,
While this grammar is being
taught
As it always has been, ever
shall be,
World without end.
Your face inspires a new consideration,
Grace to be said over your body,
Not to be mistaken for all the
men
Laid in repose in this room,
Whose widows loved and mourned,
Within these same four walls.
Still, we are certain we hear
candle-music, angel-music,
Visions of choirs of children
born
And burning with our harmonies,
Those come down to us in myth
and legend
And written in our genetic code.
We are intent on explaining
ourselves
To these children until we are
spent.
While we sleep,
Our ghosts consent to keep vigil
Over our bed.
March 6, 1988
Ghost House by Robert Frost
Dust of Snow by Robert Frost
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45364/the-lotos-eaters
VI
"Heap'd over with a mound of grass,
Two handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass!
Dear is the memory of our wedded lives,
And dear the last embraces of our wives"
Orf: Carmina Burana 14. When We Are In The Tavern..."When we are in the tavern, we do not think how we will go to dust, but
we hurry to gamble, which always makes us sweat."
Bride and groom lie hidden for three days
Antigone's death "Lately this last flower of Oedipus line drank the sunlight! but now a passionate word and a handful of dust
have closed up all its beauty (page 958; line 10)."
What does dust represent in Antigone?
One of the motifs in Antigone is dirt which symbolizes Antigone's rebellion against the King's rule and her loyalty to
her family. It also represents her bravery even when faced with imminent death. All she did was scoop a handful of dust on
Polyneices' body and it was enough to cause her death.
https://ancient-literature.com › sym...
Symbolism in Antigone: The Use of Imagery and Motifs in the Play
I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
Jack London
Close-mouthed you sat five thousand years and never let out a whisper.
Processions came by, marchers, asking questions you answered with grey eyes never blinking, shut lips never talking.
Not one croak of anything you know has come from your cat crouch of ages.
I am one of those who know all you know and I keep my questions: I know the answers you hold.
"A Sphinx" by Carl Sandburg
"...when out of a snow-clogged lane would come a boy
the spit of myself, with a pink-tipped cigarette and the violet past
of a black eye, cocky as a bullfinch, leering all to himself."
from A Child's Christmas In Wales by
Dylan Thomas
"He that is building in the heavens his stairs"
These are the GHOST HOUSE, GHOST TOWN poems:
1. The Wedding, March 6, 1988
2.
The Children, March 7, 1988
3. The Dining Room,
March 8, 1988
4. The Study, March 9, 1988
5. The Cemetary, March 10, 1988
6. The Garden, March 12, 1988
7. The Well, March 13, 1988
8. The Attic, March 18, 1988
9. The Orchard, March 21, 1988
10. The Spring, May 25, 1988
11. The General Store, March 30, 1988
12. The Widows' Walk, April 11, 1988
13. The Cabin, April 13, 1988
14. The Wake, April 21, 1988
15. The Porch, April 26, 1988
16. The Church, April 30, 1988
17. The Resort, May 3, 1988
18. The Kitchen, May 9, 1988
19. The Sewing Room, May 12, 1988
20. The Circus, June 3, 1988
21. The Bookstore, July 6, 1988
22. The Cave, July 13, 1988
23. The Guest Room, August 25, 1988
24. The Lighthouse, October 2, 1988
25. The Bath,
October 9, 1988
26. The Record Shop, October 24, 1988
27. The Tree, November 28, 1988
28. The Delicatessen, December 5, 1988
29. The Bakery, January 18, 1989
30. The Night Train, January 28, 1990
31. The Ghost Dance, May 29, 1990
Ghost House, The Spring
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