Demeter At the Chinese Opera

DEMETER AT THE CHINESE OPERA So, I invited you to the Chinese Opera impulsively Thinking of masks and dragons and triumphant mystery I though it was time we threw off our coats Of mourning, you for your daughter Stopping one night, on the way home from a party, So randomly, cruelly, killed by the monster Who has slain more than all the century’s wars And my private sorrow for which there is no funeral. I remember your straying husband also Loved the Chinese Opera. What will happen If we all meet between the acts? Surely forgiveness will come like snow on the mountain And we will live in a harmony that can never be suppressed In a slow majestic music that takes account of grief. (C) Rosemarie Rowley From IN MEMORY OF HER (2008)