Reference Work

(to Hans Christian Andersen)

we shall consult the Encyclopedia of Snow

things written, seen, enacted that have somehow been effaced

for instance: the entry for Orange

slightly glazed

though a wedding fragrance lingers in the air

on the page with the entry for orange blossoms, lily of the valley

and there is the entry for jade things made

in several centuries, and the milky jade

does look pale emerald sheerly in the pages of snow remembered

clearly

the soul's impression very young

so how did they say it, once upon

let us not rifle through the songs of the disappearing

catalogued here 

the Emperor's nightingale in the fabled garden

may yet appear among the creamy rose buds where

Death lets go its hold weeping, at the song 

that holds such sweet repose

and the flight of swans transposed 

once more into men may yet regale

as the legend of the hour the evil enchantments ceased.

God holds all in His power

the princess from the tower released, the  princes too

it's not too late the clock of all clocks is chiming here

the angel cherishing of the Child's tear

the clock of fate remember what you will

though half the world forgets

the reason for the violets, the incomprehensible stars

choosing instead the trivialities and the trinket tournaments

slighting again the noble dead.

treading the ghosts of beauty down.

mary angela douglas 26 april 2021

NOTE ON THE POEM: I miss old encyclopedias so much. I have some in my own personal collection quite a few but I miss the mystical feeling I had as a child and in gradeschool especially leafing through all the entries and that kind of aimless but in a good way opening to different passages. For some time now I have been writing poems dedicated to what I call the book of snow and it means different things to me at different times but this time, after the last person on the internet insulted me for still loving the dewey decimal system and the library card catalogue system to distraction, the book of snow in my head suddenly turned into an encyclopedia of snow where things disappeared that you used to love and then among the things I thought of my grandmother's milky jade ring and of course of course the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen. And the oranges kind of as a reference to children's picture book encyclopedias back in the day which would of course have next to the word orange almost always a very cheering bright orange illustration of an Orange.