If Poetry Loses This Transcendent Moment

if Poetry loses this transcendent moment

the dewdrop trembling at the edge of the leaf

about to plunge into a small yet infinite space 

where the child eye is gleaming

where green grass is born again

where the wind picks up and we feel for the instant

we could fly we could be turned upside down

and spiral through stars if poetry loses that

and labels itself in jars as useful to the State all over again

to the big political nothing again where will we weep

that the Lord will hear us or in the flutter of crimson leaves

exult

what mystery will we keep beyond the keepers of the files

I will not defile the transcendent moment

I will remember the long blizzards of poetry

the ice thawed rushing in the Spring

the heartbreak the tremor in everything

I will not agree to eclipse the sun

I will not deny it is God through everything 

filtered in His own rainbow hues as His promise to you

and the images of

the crystal bells hung at the windows of fate

I listened to, long ago in my first being I promise

that I will remember, that I will not forget

that I will transcribe 

this evanescence this beauty

the best I can

and the music of it rattling through

oblivious to everything

everything on the news.

mary angela douglas 30 january 2021