for Janacek, for T.S. Eliot, for Hans Andersen
I love the dream languages disappearing into the mists
I follow them there, my heart in a knot like Psyche's
my lantern I lift aloft
the small birds warble caught as though in an art song
only i hear
where is she going, will she disappear
and though I hear them I cannot delay
but am hastening away
perhaps like the girl in red slippers
in a case of once upon or astronomical high tide
and the cathedral saints chime then as now
so silverly, shivery
askance look. look at the time
and the vanishing point I'm missing
wishing for telephone, strawberry sundae,
Coca Cola dimes when
it's so redeemable, Lady of ashes
queen of the eglantine
and of the rose silences, entwined
where opal words like mermaids
get tangled in the fishing lines
once only only once the dream languages
given to mankind
they are throwing away so carelessly now
for such small change
headfirst into the breakers
from all the with it libraries
and dressing down the old fashioned
who cling to them the lovely fading
and the Cross
that will save will salvage time out of mind
everything beautiful
every thing that was beautiful
in its time.
mary angela douglas 11 july 2018
I love the dream languages disappearing into the mists
I follow them there, my heart in a knot like Psyche's
my lantern I lift aloft
the small birds warble caught as though in an art song
only i hear
where is she going, will she disappear
and though I hear them I cannot delay
but am hastening away
perhaps like the girl in red slippers
in a case of once upon or astronomical high tide
and the cathedral saints chime then as now
so silverly, shivery
askance look. look at the time
and the vanishing point I'm missing
wishing for telephone, strawberry sundae,
Coca Cola dimes when
it's so redeemable, Lady of ashes
queen of the eglantine
and of the rose silences, entwined
where opal words like mermaids
get tangled in the fishing lines
once only only once the dream languages
given to mankind
they are throwing away so carelessly now
for such small change
headfirst into the breakers
from all the with it libraries
and dressing down the old fashioned
who cling to them the lovely fading
and the Cross
that will save will salvage time out of mind
everything beautiful
every thing that was beautiful
in its time.
mary angela douglas 11 july 2018
