Poem for Monday and Richmond in Autumn

All Souls
By May Sarton

Did someone say that there would be an end,
an end, Oh, an end to love and mourning?
What has been once so interwoven cannot be raveled,
not the gift ungiven.
Now the dead move through all of us still glowing.
Mother and child, lover and lover mated,
are wound and bound together and enflowing.
What has been plaited cannot be unplaited--
only the strands grow richer with each loss
and memory makes kings and queens of us.
Dark into light, light into darkness, spin.
When all the birds have flow to some real haven,
we who find shelter in the warmth within,
listen and feel new-cherished, new-forgiven,
as the lost human voices speak through us and blend our complex love,
our mourning without end.

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Paul and I spent a very nice Sunday in Richmond with Cheryl, whom we met in the cafeteria of the VMFA for lunch before going to the Virginia Historical Society, which has Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times currently on display, including several costumes that weren't at Winterthur and different explorations of the social developments that paralleled those being portrayed on the show. They also have permanent exhibits on the history and landscape of Virginia, plus massive murals glorifying the Confederacy that were making me snicker quietly but I didn't want to offend the man there who could identify all the generals in the paintings from their likenesses and spoke reverently of President Davis.

From there we went to Maymont, which had lots of geese and vultures around the ponds near the entrance and a train moving very slowly along the James River while we were in the rose and Japanese gardens. The leaves in Richmond are still pretty glorious, so although it was drizzly when we arrived and heavily overcast most of the day, it was very colorful. We saw the bears playing and visited the raptors before the park closed, at which point we went to Mexico for Day of the Dead dinner. We made such good time driving home that we were able to see all of Madam Secretary before what was a really enjoyable World Series game until what should have been the last inning. These are all pics of us; photos of the costumes, Confederacy, and black bears to come!