Lament of Leonardo On A Lost Notebook

my fair copy of the rings around the moon

got into the wrong hands-

stashed in the pirate's hoard

next door to rubies and a retrograde coinage

and the key to that lock was thrown

by a vagrant hand for no reason at all

into silver-pointed dawn.

now in a lime-leafed summer, once again,

brocaded planets spin so unredeemed

but not for that much longer-

mary angela douglas 20 december 2009/28 june 2010

Even When Words Are Cloth Of Gold

even when words are cloth of gold

cut to the fairytale's sheerest pattern

in a world that shoves these things

down the well

to whom shall bright words be spoken?

progress keeps its own carriages,

its own parks well paved

serviceable

and serviceable

for rolling over well enough

and rolling over again.

but the bright word leaps

in its own fountain

and won't be quenched-

mary angela douglas 17 june 2010

Rain Affects Incident Light

in light that streams paradisical

through trees rustling in old movies, films-

there must be so many

soughing angels

or why does the light caught forever

in these branches-

even in black and white-

reel in my heart

with holy shadows cast

in strange familiar distances

I seem to know.

cinema. cinematique

quarto shadowed suddenly

to me it seems your

dreams are woven in dreams are

woven but the golden loop

slips from your hands and

childhood hoops spin backwards into night.

say you're sorry to the brothers Lumiere

if not to God my pearly fountainhead

it's Yours.

but the guardians of these images sleep.

the moon drops from its murky frame.

expatriate angels

sought no more

sit in the pouring rain and cry-

mary angela douglas 17 june 2010

[*incident light is a film term refering to light that shines directly on objects rather than

reflected light. I am trying to say - in the arts - if you lose the light that comes from God you lose everything, because only with that is an extra dimension woven into what you do that you could never produce on your own]

*brother Lumiere, very poetic film pioneers in France experimenting in color in the early 1900s.

Rewritten

the Blackguard's phone rings on and on

into a strange infinity

but no one's there to take the call.

a Mobius sun stands still-

like the hushed instant before Fatima.

you're not that far from home anymore:

for true friends there's the

Father, Son, the Holy Ghost.

you take your basket from its peg

with its pot of honey-butter, elderberry

jam and rolls; its fine napkin

embroidered with the universe.

your rose-red cape

becomes you so.

and straight out on the

flower-strewn road, this

time-

engulfed by the waiting Shadow of the King-

the muzzled wolf's delayed-

mary angela douglas 4 june 2010

Snow Globe Vision Of La Belle Et La Bete

[to Christ in his sorrowful incarnations

(and after the film by Jean Cocteau)]

the teardrop diamonds in your hand

rueful rubies can't be spent

who are you really

do we even know?

bearing our disfigurement

in the desolate garden,

most desolate Rose

is it too late?

are you still there?

turning the ring three times I pray

for the ancient fairytale trumpets

the snow-glitter ready to descend-

mary angela douglas 1 june 2010