Duduk

they did not realize the latter day tribes
one sentence in the fairytale could indicate five hundred years
the smoke rising over the village

and the fires banked throughout tears
innumerable roses in the garden and the banquet set I know!
and no inhabitants.

what do you mean the surly asked
missing  the winter ingredients for the stew
i cannot rescue you

I cannot be rescued from this page this lapse
though I look on every map and clasp and uclasp my Soul
though I throw out the ropes of silk

made for us in a distant more prescient age.

there are the mermaid transformations
to walking on land. the knife of every step
and the song still glad in an infinitely sad way

rising over the ochre the forgotten roofs
forever while we pray

mary angela douglas 24 april 2020