Written by Jane Ellis Morrow, Jane Trigère’s mother.
Click here to view her other writings.

Version 1:

Usher her in with solemn brass
Suited to her stately steps;
Triumphantly blare forth the matron’s power.

Usher her in with solemn brass
Suited to her stately steps; Triumphantly blare forth the matron’s power.

After the brass, full orchestra and then
Separate episodes of French horns, cymbals, and bassoons

She is augmented by the work of time,
Her throat and torso thickened.
Her intelligible statement issues, firm,
Between engraved parentheses.

Later, oh later, time will subtract and glean, leaving thin skin and bones,
Erosion and stringy folds–
But now, alone and staunch, the matron strides irrevocable.
State this theme in solemn brass.
Let no intruding motif indicate
The essential she who lives within,
Enclosed as a dryad in an oak
Forever tentative, wishing to share
Some slender bits of magic. Oh.

Appropriate brass can utterly drown out
The inner creature’s continual cry,
As thin as mist, as lonely as the wind
Persistent and hopeful as waves on a granite shore.

Blare therefore brass, and let the Grand March proceed.
Stride forth. Ignore the keening cry.

Version 2, written an unknown time later:

Usher her in with solemn brass
Suited to her stately steps;
Triumphantly setting forth the considerable power
Of this woman in her middle years.

(Piccolo and flute were well
For the spritely child she was.
A violin spoke for the budding girl.
A single French horn for her new maturity.
Woodwinds carried the growing theme until
Full orchestra for the bearing of each child.
There were also separate episodes of harp
And cymbal and bassoon.)
Throat and torso have thickened.
Her mouth’s intelligible statement is firmly made
Between engraved parentheses.
She is augmented by the work of time.

Later, she knows, time will subtract and glean
Leaving thin skin and bones,
Erosion and stringy folds–
But now, quick and stately
self-contained, alone and staunch,
the matron strides irrevocable.
State this theme in solemn brass.

Let no intruding motif indicate
the essential she who lives within,
enclosed as a dryad in an oak
forever tentative and virginal,
wishful, needing to share her bits of magic.

It would be absurd to betray
A being no one wants nor can conceive of.

Appropriate brass can utterly drown out
The inner creature’s continual cry.
As thin as mist, as lonely as the wind–
Persistent and hopeful,
As waves on a granite shore.