(for Andrei Tarkovsky, beyond Time for some time now)
is Time there frozen at the heart of all roses
the way we remembered it then
or the pearl of the marvelous dissolved
in the intricate life of trees
trees and their roots
the shadows of clouds
on the ground
in the mirror that is our Heaven
as it was then
in the failing of flowers
drop by drop of water
the necessary the beautiful confounded together
in the composing mind at war, Time-
will these diaries remain
the inner of, flame of them
unquenched despite the obvious assaults
how fraught was beauty to us then
the petals slipping from the boughs
but how dreamed the child
how does it pass
Time in the lookinglass surveilled
when dreaming of the end; the past,
and have you escaped all charges at last
in railing against
the heart of all roses, frozen
mary angela douglas 6 july 2018
