The Candle Jar

We gave her
we sailed her out
the breakers
where the waters
keep her now

the pyre
alights her gown
the briar
as the ocean
washed her down

the snipe and boar
laid stones on the shore
while the warblers
cried and mourned
till the cairn was formed

then wine was poured
the pines sang of yore
and the night woods
whisper for
her evermore

"all my fingers rue
the day that you
holly, heather and
their brothers too
bared your bastard grins
and carried through
alabaster skin I never knew"

Her father
sauntered from town
and faltered
as we heard him say
aloud

"O daughter
i'll lay your crown
for the valley and the mount"

"Your sylvan wreath
I'll cast for the trees
and your azure robes beneath--
they are for the seas"

"The winds will seethe
your name 'pon their teeth
and the waterfalls will weep
to have been bereaved"

"and-

every winter moon
shall wane for you
feathers in your hair--
where haybirds flew
bare your Nassau grin
and carry through
follow mountain winds--they're speaking sooth"