We Shall Expect Again A Phoenix Hour

"Do not expect again a phoenix hour"

Stephen Spender

(to my mother, Mary Adalyn Young-Douglas)

we shall expect again a phoenix hour

for Christ rose only that we should rise again

nor mourn in dust your music's fatal dower

no music dies that sought the heart to mend

turn then again, our swans at the dawns clear chiming

released from woe, from the blasting of the bud

renouncing winter's chill for the sweet aspiring

we knew when we were infants still.

see, my mother,  the greening of the Word renewed

as you instilled in me and turned to go

we will receive the songs of the waning towers

released from the spell that made them nil.

we may expect the fairy tale's golden shower

trusting as we did in the Lord's return

the hawthorn bloom, and the suddenly caroling wren

the Renaissance of all we could not win

lives, lives 

and bids the grieved earth to sing again.

mary angela douglas 15 february 2021