Returning To The Tower We Sought To Win

[to Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, and Alfred Lord Tennyson-

and all the others before and after...in every country and language]

"The Sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full..."

-Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach

returning to the tower we sought to win

gaily your pennants floating on the wind;

the mind renewed

where vintage valentines were stored

since no one needed anymore

the hearts of those who thought before

long golden thoughts

in an ivory scene derailed-

for what?

returning to the tower we sought to breathe

above the innocence of trees, beyond the snowed in Park  still

newly green as we were when we first loved

them.

whatever stole them and our time

we will forget and learn to rhyme again

under the inconstant moon

or in blank verse lose this wilderness

and swear new constancy to Him:

Christ of all poetry; they knew-

without flinching at the name.

.

returning to the tower

let there be balm in picture books again

and evensong and starlight unadulterated.

the poets now in shadow once wrote in this sun

and they were true.

we will remember you, your light

the sudden sorrow of your flights

the useless defamation down the years.

the colours of your songs will paint

this modern quest

for Beauty wronged

and we will sing;

unashamed and free, though ridiculed

and jewel on jewel the peerless cantos learn, prolong

so meant for earth as Heaven indeed down to the last breath

and margins of the sea of song 

of faith of hearts

no longer empty

mary angela douglas 23 january 2014