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Strength in Old English was a Feminine Noun

On this sand bar, sea dune,
where we watched waves and wind storms, stars,
Cape of delicious fish fry, maker of beer. I’m here.
I’m in mourning. Will be for awhile.
In a broker world, healing is waiting.
Weight of many years of marriage strengthens me.
“Strength” in Old English was a feminine noun.
Lists of nouns or verbs aren’t poetry. I lie down. And rise,
like raw yeasted dough. I push myself down again.
I’m willing to sit for hours then be baked, broken and consumed.
Whether Death consumes, or Life, doesn’t matter anymore.

—
Rosemary Dunn Moeller is the author of Long-Term Mates Migrate Great Distances and Antarctic Suite Summertime. Her poems have appeared in Scurfpea Anthologies, Freshwater Review, Tenth Muse, Muleskinner, and many other literary journals. She divides her time between her farm on the Dakota prairie and the seashore of Cape Cod. Both offer endless open vistas.

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