After Rita Dove’s Thomas and Beulah
Outside the church,
She strolls past the maple trees,
The mandolin’s echo lingers still, as if
He’s there, but he’s not.
Gazing at the path they used to walk
Where magnolia breeze stirs memories:
They both had known, their connection,
More mutual than romantic,
Like parallel streams, running deep but lean.
She had had a dream, traveled back decades ago:
It was a sign, she would make it to Paris one day…
Only a sign, with magic’s fleeting touch—
The vision dwells in her palace,
Along with many other worldly longings,
Searching for a silver dahlia charm, instead
finding echinacea blooming in a pan—
As elegant as she yearns to be,
As resilient as she is…
Blues, however free, however soulful,
She preferred classical,
Sentimental but powerful, in her pianola.
With diligence,
Thirty-nine years.
Mandolin, glittering in the lobe of his ear,
despite the shine of the canary.
We were good, we both knew
If time were to go back,
The track wouldn’t change.
A deep breath, she steps into the church where they had once plunged out.
A deeper breath, she makes space for death:
Company,
but only company.
Weiyi Jing, is a 16-year-old writer and musician. This piece explores the tension between fear and passion. It is a story about performance, but more importantly, it is a story about belief—how someone else’s confidence can awaken your own. Weiyi studies violin at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege and attends The Brearley School.
