On Jenny Lind

( for Hans Christian Andersen)

on Jenny Lind the poet was silent

I think of him in his latter days

or rather, imagine his chair faced the wall

one small dormer window lit; the mystical snow ballets heaped outside.

for Jenny Lind.

has the heart an aria left for the long unfolding winter's chime

a caparisoned horse on which to ride

in the jeweled the saddening night

have all blue birds taken flight

and childhood's ones of viridian green

is light a captive of the story that must wend

where the ghosts of curio stories most abide

the chance of being read or cast aside

the heart's forbidden murmuring;

a violet evanescence on a mermaid wave

the twilight cannot stay nor Jenny Lind

a small lark lodged in his throat.

one crystal note.

weeping on the quay

along a starlit way.

who is it the sparrows ask

out of an antique Past

he cries for Jenny Lind

for Jenny Lind,

at last.

mary angela douglas 25 december 2020;rev 27 decembr 2020