a fragment
Delicate and fragile
Is my memory of you
As a porcelain teacup
That time withdrew
From my still thirsting lips.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
baby shoes
So still, but looking so full of motion,
So seeming empty are full today
Of bright, plump happiness running toward me
While the feet they held have run away.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
falling leaf
You could not really go away!
A part of you must always stay
Wherever beauty is. Today
You were the rainbow and the dawn
And lengthening light across the lawn.You were the wind that shook the tree
Blowing a meaning out to me
You were the sunset tenderly
Painting a perfect memory.I know you will not come again,
Yet so does beauty blend with pain
And such the medium of your art,
The world forever will remain
Your picture painted on my heart.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
la ruine, fayenbois
In the forest is a chapel.
It’s an ancient ruined chapel
Which the ivy and the hours
Are restoring to the earth.
And all around the woodland-
A green and golden woodland-
Is sheltering the little dreams
The chapel brought to birth.In the ruin of the valley-
A rocky, wooded valley
There are a thousand memories
Outlasting rocks and time.
For stone will only crumble
And towers in time will tumble
But the dreams will last forever.
I know, for one is mine.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
when they come back
How will they find it here?
Will you remember how they went away?
Heads up, eyes light, as if no single tear
Should dim the intense meaning of that day.
Will you receive them
In your homes they saved?
And proudly welcome each one at your door?
Or will you think them roughened and depraved
And brush them out like dust from off your floor?Their tears kept green your lawns
And trees and more –
What of the waters pounding on your shore!
What do you owe to them who kept your song
Within your hearts – To whom do they belong?
When they come back how will they find it here?
Brave to their hell – it is you they fear.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
stars
The sea is wide and calm
For its waves break in me.
The sky is near and sweet
For its depth is in me.
The stars are faint and cool
For their fire is in me.
The rocks are still and silent
For their cry is in me.I am made of the night and the dawn,
Tumult and peace, fire and sea,
Rock and sky.I am a woman.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
city bird
He is sitting on the wires without regrets.
If his heart remembers branches,
His mind forgets.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
on plumbing
Folks who live in cities and have bathrooms
miss a lot,
'Cause moonlight through a frosted pane
is not so hot.But to live out in the country!
That's the life that I adore,
With moonlight pouring silver through an
open privy door.
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
the marionette
Until now
I have been content
To move
As the string moved me.But now I see
There is a frame
Around this existence.Out beyond
I see the faces
And beings that move
Freely in a larger world.Loose me from strings!
by Regena Larrabee Seehausen
smoke and fire
First fire memory is of my father
And all my uncles
Having a cigarette
Together after a family
Meal at Grandma Larrabee’sThen there’s the memory of
The intoxicating smell
Of tobacco and Daddy’s
Purple smoking jacket,
I liked chewing on the butts
Mentholated…’harmless’
I must have been careful not to be caught
No one seemed to notice.I was proud to learn
How to put burning matches
In my mouth
Close. Mouth. Quickly…
Let Fire burn out.My father saved us all
After my Mother died
By marrying and joining another family
With ours and
On and on …
College, marriage children.I quit smoking totally when I learned
Ben was on his way.
Then came Nathaniel.I tried to teach them both
Not to smoke…and they listened
For the most part.But now…
I find, after Nathaniel
Left us all in a cloud
of Smoke and ash…
A pack of Camel cigarettes
in his desk.
So I’m going out on the porchTo light up and think
of Nat…
and feel the burn.
by Mary Seehausen Bresler