Delft Blue Eyes
By Amaryllis Douglas
I was driving you back to college,
up into the little green mountains
that August evening.
Slants of yellow sunlight
spread across sweet rolls of hay,
a farmer’s perfect field.
Shadows began to stretch long.
You looked back over your shoulder to make a wish,
then rested your head on your jacket sleeve.
In a moment,
in a life,
in a sunlit sigh,
Delft blue eyes,
looking up at me.
Amaryllis Douglas lives in Vineyard Haven, and raised three children on Martha’s Vineyard, including Ivy (June 20, 1985 – June 21, 2005), for whom this poem was written. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, and her own book, “The Fellowship of the Rain,” is available at Cronig’s, Bunch of Grapes, and online.
Poets with a connection to Martha’s Vineyard are encouraged to submit poems to Laura Roosevelt at ldroosevelt@gmail.com.