Saturday, April 28, 2018

To Ray Bradbury, Six Years Gone

let me braid in forget me not blue
fire balloons the tune of You though

maybe we speak of you too much
those of us who read you extravagantly
in some dream summons to life

with each page poured over, each page turned down still,
the magic foundry still going, tangerine glowing
in the few years since you've been gone.

not wanting to lose the day and fearing the night
we plunge on in beatific reminiscence
when we should just take flight; when

what we should do is just live
as if we were made of the sun
that honeycombed sphere

and the zenith still clear
and write, o write the page of gold o

live! I seem to hear you say
as if it were ever August in brocades
with the grass of eternities before you

the windows far flung while the wind says
never out of breath,
come, Yea come, elusively

berry stained and unrestrained
in the green glad praise of God,
red clover proud and sweet.

raspberry replete
the race before you lies even autumn at the verge
still incomplete

the all out of doors rapture of: we're on our way, pounding
the bittersweet, dawning streets
in fresh, unboxed tennis shoes, we ARE

some remnant of the cloudless day,
neon colours and the bests of
and all the marvels out there.

and everything to love:
don't be old, I hear you say, be
newer day by day.and braver.

let all the dandelion hours accrue
into a vintage so rich the wish for time,
more time,

comes true...

mary angela douglas 28 april 2018