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From: will.dockery@gmail.com (W.Dockery)
Newsgroups: alt.arts.poetry.comments,rec.arts.poems
Subject: Re: The Maureen trilogy: Afterglow
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2025 08:08:46 +0000
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George J. Dance wrote:
>
> "Afterglow" is the third poem in what I call my "Maureen trilogy" - you
> can read more about that trilogy on the thread devoted to its first
> poemm "Spring Again." Likw "Spring Again", "Afterglow" is a sonnet, but
> accidentally so, merely because I was learning to write sonnets at the
> time, and I wanted to write one for my wife for our anniversaryl I
> wanted to write not just a sonnet but a love poem, as a gift that would
> make up a little for the fact that, as too often in our relationship, I
> was ignoring our relationship to  go off by myself and write instead.
>
> So there's no complex theme here, just a simple poem to tell Maureen
> that I love her (while acknowledging that I don't do that enough. There
> are a couple of good lines, and a couple of Eliot-style allusions to
> works by other poets (Charles III and Eliot himself). But I'll let the
> readers look for those, if they choose; for now, I'll just give the
> definitive text:
>
> Afterglow
>
> My darling, on this night of Valentine's,
> Excuse me while I find a way to say
> I love you, knowing I could never pay
> For thirty years with only fourteen lines.
> But let me try to say just what I mean:
> That in the depths of February's chill,
> As long as I can have you with me still,
> It never will be dark or cold, Maureen;
> For, holding you and looking at the snow,
>      I see a light from thirty years ago
> Still blazing, gleaming, dazzling all below!
> And looking in your eyes, Maureen, I know
>      A passion from as many years ago,
> Which warms my body with its afterglow.
>
> ~~
> George J. Dance, 2007

Good one, my friend.