Eclipse

how do you make your eclipse velvet
and not the jangling of bells
o my distraught angels

even the stars are caught in it
they will eventually fade
yet send their light ahead anyway,

to the living and the dead
and in the green of summer shade
we have gathered our wits about us

and repaired the damage

how do you make your eclipse shine
so that no one realizes

well, this is it
Jesus was eclipsed
and still is

by the cognescenti of
everything but Light
it's a long night they say

and turn over
or write another play
no new leaf

but in my grief

for what cannot be otherwise
maybe it's only a momentary angle of vision
light is eclipsed or light is disguised

but light is not gone
you said to me once upon
even in broad daylight

the stars are still there.
or God writes I still care
in invisible ink o don't despair

mary angela douglas 12 august 2017