I would trade all,
my effervescent adolescence,
every fetching moment,
to avoid that elision.
Demure are the days,
and lithe the years,
since the ineffable
A mere harbinger
of the coming penumbra
could not be afforded
The end of serendipity
leading me down a
long lane of lassitude
This was written for Shawna’s Monday Melting Prompt at http://www.rosemarymint.wordpress.org!
Bootless Cries 
Man, is THIS phrase ever fun to say: “effervescent adolescence.” Crazy good. Also loved “demure are the days” “and lithe the years.” Excellent.
Thanks so much for reading, De! The effervescent adolescence is a mouthful, isn’t it? But I think it had the effect I wanted (I hope 🙂
Will be around to your blog again soon! 🙂
“long line of lassitude” love the alliteration, mourn the languishing–the elision–the end
Also love “demure the days” and “lithe the years” The style reminds me of Mark Strand. . .
Ginny, I was so glad you wrote, too! Thanks for reading and the comparison! It was fun working with all those beautiful words 🙂
I love this: “demure are the days, and lithe the years”
How perfect to use “The End” as a title.
“since the ineffable” … Well that says it all without having to say anything.
“of the coming penumbra” … Love the sound of this.
“leading me down a long lane of lassitude” … What a heavy, painful, and vague ending.
Anyone who reads this could probably relate in some way because you’ve left it so open to interpretation.
I like the lack of tags; however, you should add “poetry” and “poem” or “poems” everytime so that your posts might show up in the WordPress category lists for these. You might get some new random readers that way. Other great general category tags are “photography,” “art,” “books,” and “music.” Do you ever look at the Topics page for WordPress? You may see your poems pop up someday.
P.S. I think this is about having an abortion and trying to recover and have a life afterward but forever feeling the emptiness and loss. This is gorgeous and fantastic writing, Anne Katherine. I’m so pleased with your poetic contributions to the universe. 😉
Thanks so much, as usual, Shawna! Yes, I put this up so late last night and was lazy about the tags. I’m about to get to it!
I did struggle with this and I was trying to make it “open to interpretation” – as you said — to get the pain and struggle and emotion, but not necessarily the precise situation. I like your interpretation a lot. Thanks so much for the encouragement!
Impressive words… had to get out the ole dictionary. = )
Thanks for reading, Laurie! They are all so beautiful, aren’t they? 🙂
Love this Anne Katherine!! My favourite line: Demure are the days, and lithe the years. I think demure is one of those words that should be used more frequently. So eloquent. Excellent as per usual! 🙂
Lisa – I agree w/ you about demure. This week Shawna had us choose from a list of 100 Most Beautiful Words, so we had to choose our own words, and so demure was one of those – and I too would like to slip it into conversation as much as possible. I’m sure you could do a hilarious blog post about that, Lisa…about someone trying to fit that word into general conversation in really funny ways 🙂 Thanks for reading!!
Must echo the other commenters in loving “demure are the days” and “lithe are the years” – reminds me of a song, I can just see a folk singer crooning that one. Loved your beautiful words and the way you wrap them together.
Thanks, Alexandra. I know – I hate it when I come to a poem and am the last one commenting and everyone’s already pointed out everything. And since I usually write short ones, it’s not long before everything’s been pointed out 🙂 I did like those lines as well, though…thanks for reading!