Prothalamium
The sensual sap ascends
to summer us, and all
fronds, greenwoods, lily bands
attend our festival.
A festival I had
more chaste and regular
when with the greening globe
I seasonally bore
my clocked and colored joys.
Now, love, I stand exile
in the shadow of your praise,
errant, unpunctual.
Copyright Credit: Julia Randall, "Prothalamium" from The Path to Fairview. Copyright © 1992 by Julia Randall. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press.
Source: Poetry (August 1949)