Saturday, March 25, 2023

WHEN YOU WERE THREE (FINAL VERSION) FORMERLY TITLED THE HEART THAT GOES ON

 

we wished for a coherent life coherent as sunlight

that and a castle of spun glass:

very little coheres in advancing years

we only imagine life makes a narrative

there are only brief passages

illumined in Heavenly light

simpletons at the Fair

a cow exchanged for the magic beans

an apple green dress in the Spring

the rest is tedium or war say those

who ignore roses and stars, hyacinths

but tend to keep score

on anguish or mopping up the floor

after history's lunatics tramp in

the dirt

yet there are flowers 

there are larks

there is the glissando of harps

an impulse toward Song:

there is honey for the tea

and the possibility to be

at any age what you dreamed of

when you were three; there is

the Ark of the Covenant

the heart that goes on,

drenched in opals

after the Flood.

mary angela douglas 4 january 2022;25 march 2023

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