Here Is The Harbor Where The Rubied Ship

[Fugue for Amanda Sullivan on a beautiful photograph she composed]

here is the harbor where the rubied ship

docks with its curios long-forgotten

with its bolts of

hidden brocade, its doll finery

and tangerines

its rose of attar* and

its ambergris; its bears of little or

no trepidation

its dolls with eyes that close

and open

on the fairytale reprised

in waves smoothed beneath us

like spun glass.

here are the peppermint towers

of former graces, bracing the river

and its silk-screened sky-

the hold where the jeweled

nightingale is free:

the soul's music-box in tune

and every reflection is reflecting

a happiness vivid and undisguised

and buildings white as cream arise

and non-industrial uses of the day.

and everything is a surprise

but perfectly pictured as in the heart

where no one loved

need ever depart

mary angela douglas 2 may 2009

*rose of attar is attar of roses reversed to indicate the photograph's mirroring waters.