Alice Notley

 

SONNET

The late Gracie Allen was a very lucid comedienne, 
Especially in the way that lucid means shining and bright. 
What her husband George Burns called her illogical logic 
Made a halo around our syntax and ourselves as we laughed. 

George Burns most often was her artful inconspicuous straight man. 
He could move people about stage, construct skits and scenes, write 
And gather jokes. They were married as long as ordinary magic 
Would allow, thirty-eight years, until Gracie Allen's death. 

In her fifties Gracie Allen developed a heart condition. 
She would call George Burns when her heart felt funny and fluttered 
He'd give her a pill and they'd hold each other till the palpitation 
Stopped—just a few minutes, many times and pills. As magic fills 
Then fulfilled must leave a space, one day Gracie Allen's 
heart fluttered 
And hurt and stopped. George Burns said unbelievingly to the doctor, 
'But I still have some of the pills.'