To See Yourself In The Purpling Waters

(for Hans Christian Andersen)

all the sad duckling things you went through

learning to emerge a swan.

see, I will make for you an azure stillness

that you may recognize why you have come

to see yourself in the purpling waters

to see yourself as the only one

with the key to this particular kingdom.

unlocking it, for everyone.

stories will come, circling like Swans

above Denmark, Denmark in a different phase

and Love a strange love will resign itself

to sinking below the waves

only to rise on the next page

in a tin soldier mustering a gun

we are waiting for the winds to divide us

he says to no one

to see yourself in the purpling of the waters

with these frail reasons you have come

the storyteller of love itself unrequited by anyone

refurbished in the oddities of the world

in the mirroring waters as the sun descends

your shadow stories rising and falling

may we begin again?

to crest the wave and then to disappear

to love in so distant a way beyond the years

silhouettes on the screen of the beautiful

past the sad duckling days

swans on the infinite waters

learning to sing His Praise.

mary angela douglas 27 january 2021